Check Outs:

Jessica

Matty

]]>41:28nonoShouting at the DevOps With Corey Quinnhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/shouting-at-the-devops/
Mon, 03 Dec 2018 10:08:16 -0800 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode121.mp3
Matty Stratton121Matty is joined by Corey Quinn for a special crossover episode with Screaming In The CloudMatty is joined by Corey Quinn for a special crossover episode with Screaming In The CloudMatty is joined by Corey Quinn for a special crossover episode with Screaming In The Cloud44:18nonoDevopsdays Chicago 2018https://www.arresteddevops.com/devopsdays-chicago-2018/
Wed, 14 Nov 2018 16:46:26 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode120.mp3
Trevor Hess120Recorded live at DevOpsDays Chicago 2018, Matty and Trevor are joined by Aaron Kalin, Katie Prizy, and Jeff Smith to talk about bias and ethics in the tech industry.Recorded live at DevOpsDays Chicago 2018, Matty and Trevor are joined by Aaron Kalin, Katie Prizy, and Jeff Smith to talk about bias and ethics in the tech industry.Recorded live at DevOpsDays Chicago 2018, Matty and Trevor are joined by Aaron Kalin, Katie Prizy, and Jeff Smith to talk about bias and ethics in the tech industry.yesyesDevOpsDays Kansas City 2018https://www.arresteddevops.com/devopsdays-kansas-city-2018/
Wed, 14 Nov 2018 07:55:48 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode119.mp3
Matty Stratton119Matty (with special guest host Jessica DeVita) is joined by Ana Medina, Dan Barker, Ben Clayton, and Monica Hart at DevOpsDays Kansas City 2018.Matty (with special guest host Jessica DeVita) is joined by Ana Medina, Dan Barker, Ben Clayton, and Monica Hart at DevOpsDays Kansas City 2018.Matty (with special guest host Jessica DeVita) is joined by Ana Medina, Dan Barker, Ben Clayton, and Monica Hart at DevOpsDays Kansas City 2018.Matty (with special guest host Jessica DeVita) is joined by Ana Medina, Dan Barker, Ben Clayton, and Monica Hart at DevOpsDays Kansas City 2018.
]]>yesyesIgnite 2018 Catch Up With Jessica Deenhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/ignite-2018-jdeen/
Mon, 15 Oct 2018 20:55:48 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode118.mp3
Trevor Hess
118Trevor is joined by Jessica Deen at Microsoft Ignite 2018, and have a quick catch up on the event and the state of the DevOps world.Trevor is joined by Jessica Deen at Microsoft Ignite 2018, and have a quick catch up on the event and the state of the DevOps world.Trevor is joined by Jessica Deen at Microsoft Ignite 2018, and have a quick catch up on the event and the state of the DevOps world.Trevor is joined by Jessica Deen at Microsoft Ignite 2018, and have a quick catch up on the event and the state of the DevOps world.
]]>yesyesIgnite 2018 Catch Up With Ed Thomsonhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/ignite-2018-ethomson/
Mon, 15 Oct 2018 19:55:48 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode117.mp3
Trevor Hess
117Trevor is joined by Edward Thomson at Microsoft Ignite 2018, and have a quick catch up on the event and the state of the DevOps world.Trevor is joined by Edward Thomson at Microsoft Ignite 2018, and have a quick catch up on the event and the state of the DevOps world.Trevor is joined by Edward Thomson at Microsoft Ignite 2018, and have a quick catch up on the event and the state of the DevOps world.Trevor is joined by Edward Thomson at Microsoft Ignite 2018, and have a quick catch up on the event and the state of the DevOps world.
]]>yesyesIgnite 2018 Catch Up With Steven Murawskihttps://www.arresteddevops.com/ignite-2018-smurawski/
Mon, 15 Oct 2018 18:55:48 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode116.mp3
Trevor Hess
116Trevor is joined by Steven Murawski at Microsoft Ignite 2018, and have a quick catch up on the event and the state of the DevOps world.Trevor is joined by Steven Murawski at Microsoft Ignite 2018, and have a quick catch up on the event and the state of the DevOps world.Trevor is joined by Steven Murawski at Microsoft Ignite 2018, and have a quick catch up on the event and the state of the DevOps world.Trevor is joined by Steven Murawski at Microsoft Ignite 2018, and have a quick catch up on the event and the state of the DevOps world.
]]>yesyesIgnite 2018 Catch Up With Donovan Brownhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/ignite-2018-dbrown/
Mon, 15 Oct 2018 17:55:48 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode115.mp3
Trevor Hess
115Trevor and Jason are joined by Donovan Brown at Microsoft Ignite 2018, and have a quick catch up on the event and the state of the DevOps world.Trevor and Jason are joined by Donovan Brown at Microsoft Ignite 2018, and have a quick catch up on the event and the state of the DevOps world.Trevor and Jason are joined by Donovan Brown at Microsoft Ignite 2018, and have a quick catch up on the event and the state of the DevOps world.Trevor and Jason are joined by Donovan Brown at Microsoft Ignite 2018, and have a quick catch up on the event and the state of the DevOps world.
]]>yesyesFireside Chat With VM Brasseurhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/foss/
Thu, 23 Aug 2018 17:55:48 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode114.mp3
Matty Stratton114Matty is joined by VM (aka Vicky) Brasseur, Vice President of the Open Source Initiative, for a chat about contributing to open source software.Matty is joined by VM (aka Vicky) Brasseur, Vice President of the Open Source Initiative, for a chat about contributing to open source software.Matty is joined by VM (aka Vicky) Brasseur, Vice President of the Open Source Initiative, for a chat about contributing to open source software.Matty is joined by VM (aka Vicky) Brasseur, Vice President of the Open Source Initiative, for a chat about contributing to open source software.

]]>nonoDevopsdays Salt Lake City 2018https://www.arresteddevops.com/devopsdays-saltlakecity/
Mon, 20 Aug 2018 14:30:48 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode112.mp3
Matty Stratton112Matty discusses devopsdays Salt Lake City 2018 with a panel in front of a live studio audience.Matty discusses devopsdays Salt Lake City 2018 with a panel in front of a live studio audience.Matty discusses devopsdays Salt Lake City 2018 with a panel in front of a live studio audience.Matty chats with Nicole Forsgren, Wes Novack, a shadowy figure known only as Chris from Qualtics, Jason Vance, and Matthew Barlocker in front of a live studio audience at devopsdays Salt Lake City 2018.

Upcoming conferences

Open CFPs

Discount codes

]]>yesyesDevopsdays Minneapolis 2018https://www.arresteddevops.com/devopsdays-minneapolis-2018/
Wed, 08 Aug 2018 14:30:48 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode111.mp3
Matty Stratton
and Bridget Kromhout111Bridget and Matty chat about organizing conferences with guests Jamesha "Jam" Fisher, Debbie Gillespie, and Christian Herro, in front of a live studio audience at devopsdays Minneapolis 2018.Bridget and Matty chat about organizing conferences with guests Jamesha "Jam" Fisher, Debbie Gillespie, and Christian Herro, in front of a live studio audience at devopsdays Minneapolis 2018.Bridget and Matty chat about organizing conferences with guests Jamesha "Jam" Fisher, Debbie Gillespie, and Christian Herro, in front of a live studio audience at devopsdays Minneapolis 2018.Bridget and Matty chat about organizing conferences with guests Jamesha “Jam” Fisher, Debbie Gillespie, and Christian Herro, in front of a live studio audience at devopsdays Minneapolis 2018.

Jamesha “Jam” Fisher is a past organizer of devopsdays Silicon Valley, and they just moved to Minneapolis. Christian Herro is a founding organizer of devopsdays Madison, and Debbie Gillespie is a new organizer of devopsdays Minneapolis.

Community & Event Stuff

If you have an upcoming conference you would like to see promoted on ADO, you can fill out the handy form at arresteddevops.com/conf

Community & Event Stuff

Upcoming conferences

Open CFPs

Discount codes

ADO2018 for 20% off lots of devopsdays, 5% off GopherCon.

]]>yesyesTheatre Geeks Unite and Tech Over the Worldhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/theatre-nerds/
Wed, 09 May 2018 17:55:48 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode108.mp3
and Trevor Hess108Arrested DevOps - Theatre Geeks Unite and Tech Over the WorldArrested DevOps - Theatre Geeks Unite and Tech Over the WorldArrested DevOps - Theatre Geeks Unite and Tech Over the WorldOn this episode of Arrested DevOps, Trevor is joined by Chloe Condon, Nathen Harvey, and Nell Shamrell-Harrington. Everyone on this episode has been a part of the theater community at some point in their lives. We talk about our individual journeys from theater into tech, the lessons we learned on the way, and how we leverage those lessons every day.

Community & Event Stuff

If you have an upcoming conference you would like to see promoted on ADO, you can fill out the handy form at arresteddevops.com/conf

Upcoming conferences

Open CFPs

Discount codes

ADO2018 for 20% off lots of devopsdays, 10% off ChefConf, 5% off GopherCon.

]]>yesyesPunk Rock DevOps With Jay Gordonhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/punk-rock/
Mon, 12 Mar 2018 08:55:48 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode106.mp3
Matty Stratton
106In this edition of "big guys with beards and tattoos", MongoDB Developer Advocate Jay Gordon waxes philosophical about the change from being on-call to being a tech evangelist, what went wrong with the GitHub memcached DDoS, and the role of fast food in DevOps.In this edition of "big guys with beards and tattoos", MongoDB Developer Advocate Jay Gordon waxes philosophical about the change from being on-call to being a tech evangelist, what went wrong with the GitHub memcached DDoS, and the role of fast food in DevOps.In this edition of "big guys with beards and tattoos", MongoDB Developer Advocate Jay Gordon waxes philosophical about the change from being on-call to being a tech evangelist, what went wrong with the GitHub memcached DDoS, and the role of fast food in DevOps.

Upcoming conferences

Open CFPs

Discount codes

ADO2018 for 20% off lots of devopsdays, 10% off ChefConf, 5% off GopherCon.

]]>yesyesCareer Change Into DevOps With Michael Hedgpeth, Annie Hedgpeth, and Megan Bohlhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/career-change-into-devops/
Thu, 08 Feb 2018 12:55:48 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode102.mp3
Matty Stratton102What is it like to change careers and get into tech later in life? Annie Hedgpeth and Megan Bohl tell their stories. This episode also features special guest Sonia Gupta!What is it like to change careers and get into tech later in life? Annie Hedgpeth and Megan Bohl tell their stories. This episode also features special guest Sonia Gupta!What is it like to change careers and get into tech later in life? Annie Hedgpeth and Megan Bohl tell their stories. This episode also features special guest Sonia Gupta!What is it like to change careers and get into tech later in life? Annie Hedgpeth and Megan Bohl tell their stories.

What were some of your favorite episodes?

Bridget: the GOTO Chicago eps were fun! And I love the 1-1 fireside chats.

Trevor: I enjoyed the Twitter banter around getting the live call show with Dr. Nicole Forsgren going, sad I had to miss it! There’s also a ChefConf episode sitting on my Surface that I just found the charger for!

Matt: The Live call in show with Dr. Nicole Forsgren. Also the recent fireside chat with J. Paul Reed. And the crazy-go-nuts overload show of Windows Stuff.

]]>yesyesInner Source to Open Source With Aaron Rineharthttps://www.arresteddevops.com/inner-source-to-open-source/
Tue, 05 Dec 2017 08:55:48 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode098.mp3
Matty Stratton
98Open source projects have a lot of benefits, as we all know. But sometimes it can be a real challenge to take tools and projects developed internally and open-source them, especially from a traditional enterprise. Guest Aaron Rinehart shares his journey and story with open sourcing his internal security chaos engineering tool, ChaoslingrOpen source projects have a lot of benefits, as we all know. But sometimes it can be a real challenge to take tools and projects developed internally and open-source them, especially from a traditional enterprise. Guest Aaron Rinehart shares his journey and story with open sourcing his internal security chaos engineering tool, ChaoslingrOpen source projects have a lot of benefits, as we all know. But sometimes it can be a real challenge to take tools and projects developed internally and open-source them, especially from a traditional enterprise. Guest Aaron Rinehart shares his journey and story with open sourcing his internal security chaos engineering tool, ChaoslingrOpen source projects have a lot of benefits, as we all know. But sometimes it can be a real challenge to take tools and projects developed internally and open-source them, especially from a traditional enterprise. Guest Aaron Rinehart shares his journey and story with open sourcing his internal security chaos engineering tool, Chaoslingr.

Upcoming conferences

Open CFPs

Discount codes: ADO2018 for 20% off lots of devopsdays, 10% off ChefConf

]]>yesyesFireside Chat With Grandpa Paulhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/grandpa-paul/
Mon, 04 Dec 2017 04:55:48 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode097.mp3
Matty Stratton97An episode years in the making! Matt and guest J. Paul Reed talk about what DevOps could be doing better, what is going well, nerdy things about podcasting, and whether 5 Guys is better than In-And-Out Burger.An episode years in the making! Matt and guest J. Paul Reed talk about what DevOps could be doing better, what is going well, nerdy things about podcasting, and whether 5 Guys is better than In-And-Out Burger.An episode years in the making! Matt and guest J. Paul Reed talk about what DevOps could be doing better, what is going well, nerdy things about podcasting, and whether 5 Guys is better than In-And-Out Burger.

Bridget and Matt sat down with a speaker (Emily Freeman) and a couple of organizers (Joshua Zimmerman & Christian Herro) to talk about the wider themes of organizational change when you may not call all the shots in your org.

Upcoming conferences

Open CFPs

]]>yesyesVelocity With Inés Sombra & James Turnbullhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/velocity/
Mon, 25 Sep 2017 15:55:48 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode094.mp3
Bridget Kromhout
94Bridget chats with Velocity chairs Inés Sombra (Fastly) and James Turnbull (Empatico).Bridget chats with Velocity chairs Inés Sombra (Fastly) and James Turnbull (Empatico).Bridget chats with Velocity chairs Inés Sombra (Fastly) and James Turnbull (Empatico).Ines Sombra (Fastly) and James Turnbull (Empatico) are chairs of the Velocity conference series, which is celebrating its 10th year in 2017. They joined Bridget to talk about the events next month in New York and London, and share tips for making the most of your conference as well as submitting talks to future conferences.

Upcoming conferences

Open CFPs

]]>yesyesDevopsdays Minneapolis 2017 With Bryan Liles, Jessie Frazelle, and Andrew Clay Shaferhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/devopsdays-minneapolis-2017/
Sat, 29 Jul 2017 07:55:48 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode091.mp3
Matty Stratton
and Bridget Kromhout91Bridget and Matt chat about enterprise transformation and open source with guests Bryan Liles, Jessie Frazelle, and Andrew Clay Shafer, in front of a live studio audience at devopsdays Minneapolis 2017.Bridget and Matt chat about enterprise transformation and open source with guests Bryan Liles, Jessie Frazelle, and Andrew Clay Shafer, in front of a live studio audience at devopsdays Minneapolis 2017.Bridget and Matt chat about enterprise transformation and open source with guests Bryan Liles, Jessie Frazelle, and Andrew Clay Shafer, in front of a live studio audience at devopsdays Minneapolis 2017.Bridget and Matt chat about enterprise transformation and open source with guests Bryan Liles, Jessie Frazelle, and Andrew Clay Shafer, in front of a live studio audience at devopsdays Minneapolis 2017.

Upcoming conferences

Open CFPs

]]>yesyesEnterprises With Bryan Lileshttps://www.arresteddevops.com/enterprise/
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 14:59:40 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode083.mp3
Matty Stratton
and Bridget Kromhout83Bridget and Matt chat about devops in a large enterprise with Bryan Liles (Capital One).Bridget and Matt chat about devops in a large enterprise with Bryan Liles (Capital One).Bridget and Matt chat about devops in a large enterprise with Bryan Liles (Capital One).Bridget and Matt chat about devops in a large enterprise with Bryan Liles (Capital One).

Open CFPs

]]>yesyesMicrosoft Redux With Liam Bennett, Brandon Olin, Reuben Dunn, Glenn Sarti, and Chris Hunthttps://www.arresteddevops.com/microsoft-again/
Thu, 26 Jan 2017 12:35:30 -0600 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode081.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout81It's been almost two years since we've talked about doing DevOps in Microsoft environments, so it's about time to do it again. And it's one of our largest panels yet!It's been almost two years since we've talked about doing DevOps in Microsoft environments, so it's about time to do it again. And it's one of our largest panels yet!It's been almost two years since we've talked about doing DevOps in Microsoft environments, so it's about time to do it again. And it's one of our largest panels yet!DevOps Cafe w/ Jeffery Snover - Linux is docs based, Windows is API based

]]>yesyesDevopsdays Cuba 2016https://www.arresteddevops.com/devopsdays-cuba-2016/
Tue, 17 Jan 2017 01:59:40 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode080.mp3
Bridget Kromhout
and Joe Laha80Bridget and our audio editor, Joe, chat about their experiences at devopsdays Cuba and share some audio recorded at the event.Bridget and our audio editor, Joe, chat about their experiences at devopsdays Cuba and share some audio recorded at the event.Bridget and our audio editor, Joe, chat about their experiences at devopsdays Cuba and share some audio recorded at the event.Bridget and Joe discuss their experiences at devopsdays Cuba and share audio from the closing session.

Open CFPs

]]>nono2016 Year-End Extravaganzahttps://www.arresteddevops.com/2016-wrapup/
Sat, 31 Dec 2016 01:59:40 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode079.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout79Matt, Trevor, and Bridget chat (at length) about podcasts, podcast recording, and podcast recording software. Oh, and the highlights of 2016 if they get around to it.Matt, Trevor, and Bridget chat (at length) about podcasts, podcast recording, and podcast recording software. Oh, and the highlights of 2016 if they get around to it.Matt, Trevor, and Bridget chat (at length) about podcasts, podcast recording, and podcast recording software. Oh, and the highlights of 2016 if they get around to it.Matt, Trevor, and Bridget chat (at length) about podcasts, podcast recording, and podcast recording software. Oh, and the highlights of 2016 if they get around to it. (Don’t miss the supercut of all 2016’s cold opens, which was edited by Joe, even though Matt takes credit for it!)

Website updates

Other improvements

Matt did a session with Daniel J. Lewis of the Audacity to Podcast (we were a featured podcast eval in Podcasters Society) and we got a whole bunch of ideas on how to improve the show - some of which we have already started to implement). You can check out our outstanding issues on GitHub

Welcome to Joe as our main audio editor!

What happened with you in 2016?

Matt

Didn’t travel much - only spoke once twice - once at Pink16, and once at a Cloudbees conference in Chicago

Only went to one devopsdays - Chicago. I’m failing!

Hey, I got married

Bridget

28 talks. Give or take. A few of those were at devopsdays - I made it to London, Toronto, New York, Detroit, Havana, Philadelphia, Madison, Sydney - and of course ran Minneapolis.

Counting North America Joe and I hit 5 continents this year. And I was going to travel less. Instead, all the airline status. Rethinking next year. Maybe get into webinars?

Devopsdays: growing! New core team! New cities!

Trevor

I spoke 3 times this year, but got to attend so many more conferences than before

I was literally on the other side of the planet to my usual place of existence for the first time.

]]>yesyesChatting With Pauly Comtoishttps://www.arresteddevops.com/chatting-with-pauly/
Sat, 05 Nov 2016 16:59:40 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode076.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout76In the same week that the Chicago Cubs finally won the World Series, Pauly Comtois is finally a guest on Arrested DevOps! Pauly is the VP of DevOps for Heart Business Media, and he shares with us some of the challenges (and successes) of effecting a DevOps transformation at a large enterprise.In the same week that the Chicago Cubs finally won the World Series, Pauly Comtois is finally a guest on Arrested DevOps! Pauly is the VP of DevOps for Heart Business Media, and he shares with us some of the challenges (and successes) of effecting a DevOps transformation at a large enterprise.In the same week that the Chicago Cubs finally won the World Series, Pauly Comtois is finally a guest on Arrested DevOps! Pauly is the VP of DevOps for Heart Business Media, and he shares with us some of the challenges (and successes) of effecting a DevOps transformation at a large enterprise.

Matt

]]>yesyesDevOps in the Windy City With Jeff Smith, Jerry Cattell, and Sameer Doshihttps://www.arresteddevops.com/devops-in-the-windy-city-jeff-smith-jerry-cattell-sameer-doshi/
Mon, 24 Oct 2016 06:04:11 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode075.mp3
Matty Stratton75There are some interesting things going on in DevOps in Chicago! Matt is joined by Jeff Smith (GrubHub), Jerry Cattell (LifeQode), and Sameer Doshi (kCura), for a panel discussion on just what makes tech and DevOps different in Chicago. Plus, special updates on the Cubs/Dodgers game. Yay sportsball!There are some interesting things going on in DevOps in Chicago! Matt is joined by Jeff Smith (GrubHub), Jerry Cattell (LifeQode), and Sameer Doshi (kCura), for a panel discussion on just what makes tech and DevOps different in Chicago. Plus, special updates on the Cubs/Dodgers game. Yay sportsball!There are some interesting things going on in DevOps in Chicago! Matt is joined by Jeff Smith (GrubHub), Jerry Cattell (LifeQode), and Sameer Doshi (kCura), for a panel discussion on just what makes tech and DevOps different in Chicago. Plus, special updates on the Cubs/Dodgers game. Yay sportsball!

Jerry started his career swapping out computers for Y2K in tropical locations. Nice job to have!

Most sportsball talk on any episode of ADO to date!

“You may not be able to move as fast as others, but that doesn’t mean you have to sit still” - Jeff

Conversations Matt has had with local folks in the past two years have changed from “this will never work at my company” to “ this is really hard, and we aren’t moving as fast as I would like us to be”

Matt

]]>yesyesThe Art of Monitoring With James Turnbullhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/art-of-monitoring-james-turnbull/
Sun, 02 Oct 2016 09:54:48 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode074.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout74Friend of the podcast James Turnbull joins us to talk about his new book, The Art of Monitoring...and a little bit about this whole functional programming thingFriend of the podcast James Turnbull joins us to talk about his new book, The Art of Monitoring...and a little bit about this whole functional programming thingFriend of the podcast James Turnbull joins us to talk about his new book, The Art of Monitoring...and a little bit about this whole functional programming thingDon’t forget to check out the book itself! The Art of Monitoring.

Community & Event Stuff

Where we’ll be for the upcoming fortnight
- Matt is getting married at the Jim Beam distillery on Saturday
- Bridget will miss the bourbon wedding as she’s heading to Joe’s family reunion followed by GOTO Copenhagen.

If you have an upcoming conference you would like to see promoted on ADO, you can fill out the handy form at arresteddevops.com/conf

Upcoming conferences

For any devopsdays, try the code ADO2016! It should get you 20% off.
Also now works on O’Reilly Security conference.

For more DevOps awesomeness, check out the Chef Community Summit, October 26th and 27th in Seattle, WA. This Open Space event provides a great opportunity to connect with the DevOps Community and Chef Engineers over two days of engaging sessions and hallway discussions. Bring your ideas, passion and excitement for Chef and DevOps to this highly interactive event. Go to summit.chef.io to register for this awesome event and use the code ARRESTEDDEVOPS to get 10% off your ticket!

Trevor

Matt

InSpec has shipped 1.0! You can check it out at http://inspec.io/ InSpec is compliance as code – a human-readable language for automating the continuous testing and compliance auditing of your entire infrastructure. You can also use it to verify if your servers and applications are configured correctly.

]]>yesyesDevOpsDays DFW 2016https://www.arresteddevops.com/devopsdays-dfw-2016/
Tue, 13 Sep 2016 21:55:48 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode073.mp3
Trevor Hess73Supershow with Food Fight, and Software Defined Talk recorded live at the DevOpsDays Dallas / Fort Worth 2016! Trevor, Nathan and Coté were joined by Michael Hedgpeth, Annie Hedgpeth and Dillon Culpepper to discuss the first ever DevOpsDays DFW!Supershow with Food Fight, and Software Defined Talk recorded live at the DevOpsDays Dallas / Fort Worth 2016! Trevor, Nathan and Coté were joined by Michael Hedgpeth, Annie Hedgpeth and Dillon Culpepper to discuss the first ever DevOpsDays DFW!Supershow with Food Fight, and Software Defined Talk recorded live at the DevOpsDays Dallas / Fort Worth 2016! Trevor, Nathan and Coté were joined by Michael Hedgpeth, Annie Hedgpeth and Dillon Culpepper to discuss the first ever DevOpsDays DFW!yesyesFireside Chat With Bryan Cantrillhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/fireside-chat/
Tue, 13 Sep 2016 20:55:48 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode072.mp3
Bridget Kromhout72Bridget sits down for a classic fireside chat with Bryan Cantrill (Joyent), ranging from containers to social justice to lawn care.Bridget sits down for a classic fireside chat with Bryan Cantrill (Joyent), ranging from containers to social justice to lawn care.Bridget sits down for a classic fireside chat with Bryan Cantrill (Joyent), ranging from containers to social justice to lawn care.Bridget sits down for a classic fireside chat with Bryan Cantrill (Joyent), ranging from containers to social justice to lawn care.

Open CFPs

]]>yesyesDevopsdays Chicago 2016 With Nell Shamrell-Harrington, Jill Jubinski, and Michael Stahnkehttps://www.arresteddevops.com/devopsdays-chicago-2016/
Mon, 12 Sep 2016 16:46:26 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode071.mp3
Matty Stratton71Recorded live at DevOpsDays Chicago 2016, Matt was joined by Nell Shamrell-Harrington (Chef), Jill Jubinski (IBM), and Michael Stahnke (Puppet). We talked about empathy for recruiters, how the DevOpsDays Chicago event has changed over the years, and how Michael gets all of his DevOps philosophies from 90's slow jams. Recorded live at DevOpsDays Chicago 2016, Matt was joined by Nell Shamrell-Harrington (Chef), Jill Jubinski (IBM), and Michael Stahnke (Puppet). We talked about empathy for recruiters, how the DevOpsDays Chicago event has changed over the years, and how Michael gets all of his DevOps philosophies from 90's slow jams. Recorded live at DevOpsDays Chicago 2016, Matt was joined by Nell Shamrell-Harrington (Chef), Jill Jubinski (IBM), and Michael Stahnke (Puppet). We talked about empathy for recruiters, how the DevOpsDays Chicago event has changed over the years, and how Michael gets all of his DevOps philosophies from 90's slow jams. yesyesOperationalizing Open Source With Michael Hedgpeth and Doug Iretonhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/open-source-ops/
Mon, 29 Aug 2016 20:55:48 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode070.mp3
Matty Stratton
and Bridget Kromhout70Matt and Bridget chat with Michael Hedgpeth (NCR) and Doug Ireton (1Strategy) about organizations adopting open source.Matt and Bridget chat with Michael Hedgpeth (NCR) and Doug Ireton (1Strategy) about organizations adopting open source.Matt and Bridget chat with Michael Hedgpeth (NCR) and Doug Ireton (1Strategy) about organizations adopting open source.Matt and Bridget chat with Michael Hedgpeth (NCR) and Doug Ireton (1Strategy) about organizations adopting open source.

Open CFPs

DevOpsDays Madison, Detroit, Cape Town, and Nashville open until August 31

DevOpsDays Berlin open until September 1

DevOpsDays Bangalore open until September 4

DevOpsDays Ghent open until September 6

Where we’ll be for the upcoming fortnight

Bridget - Canoeing with no phone or internet, and then Velocity NY/devopsdays NY.

Matt - DevOpsDays Chicago Aug 30-31

]]>yesyesApplication Configuration With Tim Gross and Adam Jacobhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/application-configuration/
Mon, 01 Aug 2016 07:55:48 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode069.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout69Matt and Bridget chat with Tim Gross (Joyent) and Adam Jacob (Chef) about configuration that travels with the application, diving into Habitat and ContainerPilot.Matt and Bridget chat with Tim Gross (Joyent) and Adam Jacob (Chef) about configuration that travels with the application, diving into Habitat and ContainerPilot.Matt and Bridget chat with Tim Gross (Joyent) and Adam Jacob (Chef) about configuration that travels with the application, diving into Habitat and ContainerPilot.Tim Gross (Joyent) and Adam Jacob (Chef) independently started solving the problem of how to put applications in control of their own configuration. They discuss Habitat and ContainerPilot, to the edification of Matt and Bridget.

Upcoming conferences

Open CFPs

DevOpsDays Madison, Detroit, Cape Town, and Nashville open until August 31

DevOpsDays Berlin open until September 1

DevOpsDays Bangalore open until September 4

DevOpsDays Ghent open until September 6

Where we’ll be for the upcoming fortnight

Bridget - SpringOne Platform in Vegas Aug 1-4

Matt - in Chicago. I am boring now. But you should all come see me at DevOpsDays Chicago Aug 30-31…a few tickets left, ADO2016. Plus now with extra Adam!

]]>yesyesDevopsdays Minneapolis 2016https://www.arresteddevops.com/devopsdays-minneapolis-2016/
Sat, 30 Jul 2016 07:55:48 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode068.mp3
Bridget Kromhout68Bridget chats about enterprise transformation and the democratizing effect of platforms with guests Charity Majors, Nicole Forsgren, Andrew Clay Shafer, and James Watters, in front of a live studio audience at devopsdays Minneapolis 2016.Bridget chats about enterprise transformation and the democratizing effect of platforms with guests Charity Majors, Nicole Forsgren, Andrew Clay Shafer, and James Watters, in front of a live studio audience at devopsdays Minneapolis 2016.Bridget chats about enterprise transformation and the democratizing effect of platforms with guests Charity Majors, Nicole Forsgren, Andrew Clay Shafer, and James Watters, in front of a live studio audience at devopsdays Minneapolis 2016.How do large enterprises transform the way they do IT? What does it mean for every company to become a software company? Our panel of experts at devopsdays Minneapolis 2016 has worked in some of the largest orgs out there and has seen a lot of transformation first-hand.

]]>yesyesChefConf 2016 With Jon Cowie, Fletcher Nichol, and Annie Hedgpethhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/chefconf-2016/
Tue, 26 Jul 2016 20:55:48 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode067.mp3
Matty Stratton
and Trevor Hess67Recorded at ChefConf 2016 in Austin, Texas, with delightful guests Annie Hedgpeth, Fletcher Nichol, and Jon Cowie. We talk about all the new hotness of Habitat and Chef Automate, as well as cover the experiences of five years span of ChefConf attendee experience. Plus, Trevor throws shade at 'DevOps 2.0'.Recorded at ChefConf 2016 in Austin, Texas, with delightful guests Annie Hedgpeth, Fletcher Nichol, and Jon Cowie. We talk about all the new hotness of Habitat and Chef Automate, as well as cover the experiences of five years span of ChefConf attendee experience. Plus, Trevor throws shade at 'DevOps 2.0'.Recorded at ChefConf 2016 in Austin, Texas, with delightful guests Annie Hedgpeth, Fletcher Nichol, and Jon Cowie. We talk about all the new hotness of Habitat and Chef Automate, as well as cover the experiences of five years span of ChefConf attendee experience. Plus, Trevor throws shade at 'DevOps 2.0'.Awesome videos from ChefConf:

]]>yesyesCareerOps With Jill Jubinski and Peter Burkholderhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/career-ops/
Thu, 14 Jul 2016 13:34:26 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode066.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout66Oh no! You've been laid off. How can you bounce back? Jill Jubinski and Peter Burkholder help guide you through returning to the good fight of gainful employment.Oh no! You've been laid off. How can you bounce back? Jill Jubinski and Peter Burkholder help guide you through returning to the good fight of gainful employment.Oh no! You've been laid off. How can you bounce back? Jill Jubinski and Peter Burkholder help guide you through returning to the good fight of gainful employment.Notes from 2016 DevOps Days DC session on DR for your career: http://e.devopsdaysdc.org/p/openspace-spades-A

Check Outs

Jill

Newly obsessed with this site (and not just because I’m being interviewed for it in a month or so) https://usesthis.com. Its super interesting to read about how people do their day to day activities from all different industry/skill backgrounds

]]>yesyesSpeaking at Conferences With Ryn Danielshttps://www.arresteddevops.com/speaking/
Sat, 16 Apr 2016 17:14:10 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode062.mp3
Bridget Kromhout
62Speaking at tech conferences: how do you get started? What should you expect? Ryn Daniels of Etsy (author, engineer, and frequent public speaker) chats with Bridget, offering insights about speaking at conferences.Speaking at tech conferences: how do you get started? What should you expect? Ryn Daniels of Etsy (author, engineer, and frequent public speaker) chats with Bridget, offering insights about speaking at conferences.Speaking at tech conferences: how do you get started? What should you expect? Ryn Daniels of Etsy (author, engineer, and frequent public speaker) chats with Bridget, offering insights about speaking at conferences.

]]>yesyesBuilding Your Personal Brand With Andrea Javor and Michael Hedgpethhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/personal-brand/
Wed, 23 Mar 2016 00:45:53 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode060.mp3
Matty Stratton
60Want to be a change agent inside your organization? Your "personal brand" is a critical factor in your success. Being considered relevant both inside and outside of your organization gives weight to your opinions and recommendations, and will directly influence the impact you have. Guests Andrea Javor (Beam Suntory) and Michael Hedgpeth (NCR) discuss methods on growing your brand, without self-aggrandizing boasts or claims of "thought leadership".Want to be a change agent inside your organization? Your "personal brand" is a critical factor in your success. Being considered relevant both inside and outside of your organization gives weight to your opinions and recommendations, and will directly influence the impact you have. Guests Andrea Javor (Beam Suntory) and Michael Hedgpeth (NCR) discuss methods on growing your brand, without self-aggrandizing boasts or claims of "thought leadership".Want to be a change agent inside your organization? Your "personal brand" is a critical factor in your success. Being considered relevant both inside and outside of your organization gives weight to your opinions and recommendations, and will directly influence the impact you have. Guests Andrea Javor (Beam Suntory) and Michael Hedgpeth (NCR) discuss methods on growing your brand, without self-aggrandizing boasts or claims of "thought leadership".Empathy is CI For The Soul by David Shackelford

Trevor

Matt

]]>yesyesGetting Down With GitLab With Job Van Der Voorthttps://www.arresteddevops.com/gitlab/
Thu, 10 Mar 2016 00:45:40 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode059.mp3
Matty Stratton59GitLab's VP of Product, Job van der Voort, joins Matt for a frank discussion on GitLab's open company culture, the history of the project, and some of the challenges and benefits of working "in the open".GitLab's VP of Product, Job van der Voort, joins Matt for a frank discussion on GitLab's open company culture, the history of the project, and some of the challenges and benefits of working "in the open".GitLab's VP of Product, Job van der Voort, joins Matt for a frank discussion on GitLab's open company culture, the history of the project, and some of the challenges and benefits of working "in the open".Relevant Links

Check Outs

Job

Matt

]]>yesyesOpen Your Stack With JJ Asgharhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/openstack/
Thu, 25 Feb 2016 22:09:46 -0600 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode058.mp3
Matty Stratton
58JJ Asghar joins us to help school Matt about what is going on in the OpenStack worldJJ Asghar joins us to help school Matt about what is going on in the OpenStack worldJJ Asghar joins us to help school Matt about what is going on in the OpenStack world

Check Outs

JJ

Matt

]]>yesyesVendors: Frenemies or Friends? With Michael Ducy of the Goat Farmhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/vendors/
Thu, 11 Feb 2016 19:54:25 -0600 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode057.mp3
Matty Stratton,
Trevor Hess,
and Bridget Kromhout57Arrested DevOps teams up with The Goat Farm (http://goatcan.do) to talk about the ways that sales folks, solution architects, and other vendor roles can help be a partner to your organization and not just a necessary evilArrested DevOps teams up with The Goat Farm (http://goatcan.do) to talk about the ways that sales folks, solution architects, and other vendor roles can help be a partner to your organization and not just a necessary evilArrested DevOps teams up with The Goat Farm (http://goatcan.do) to talk about the ways that sales folks, solution architects, and other vendor roles can help be a partner to your organization and not just a necessary evilThis was a special co-production with The Goat Farm. Don’t forget to subscribe to their Enterprise DevOps podcast on iTunes or Stitcher!

]]>yesyesChocolatey Goodness With Rob Reynoldshttps://www.arresteddevops.com/chocolatey/
Sat, 30 Jan 2016 09:25:47 -0600 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode056.mp3
Trevor Hess56Rob Reynolds, creator of the popular Windows packaging tool Chocolatey, joins Trevor for a discussion on the future of the project, as well as some historical details on the journey so far.Rob Reynolds, creator of the popular Windows packaging tool Chocolatey, joins Trevor for a discussion on the future of the project, as well as some historical details on the journey so far.Rob Reynolds, creator of the popular Windows packaging tool Chocolatey, joins Trevor for a discussion on the future of the project, as well as some historical details on the journey so far.

]]>yesyesOpen Source With Phil Dibowitzhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/open-source/
Wed, 20 Jan 2016 17:56:53 -0600 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode055.mp3
Matty Stratton
55Matt is joined by Facebook Production Engineer Phil Dibowitz to talk about the state of Open Source today, the changes it has gone through in his career, as well as some of the best ways to get started in the world of Open Source.Matt is joined by Facebook Production Engineer Phil Dibowitz to talk about the state of Open Source today, the changes it has gone through in his career, as well as some of the best ways to get started in the world of Open Source.Matt is joined by Facebook Production Engineer Phil Dibowitz to talk about the state of Open Source today, the changes it has gone through in his career, as well as some of the best ways to get started in the world of Open Source.

Errata: “We’re no longer an airline. We’re a software company with wings.” Matt’s quote at 17:02 was from Alaska Airlines, not United Airlines.

]]>yesyesPlatforms With Kelsey Hightower and Andrew Clay Shaferhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/platforms/
Wed, 13 Jan 2016 12:09:26 -0600 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode054.mp3
Bridget Kromhout
54If you build, deploy, and operate software in production, you have a platform. Andrew Clay Shafer and Kelsey Hightower discuss different choices available in the platform space, from unstructured to structured with all the considerations along the road to operational maturity.If you build, deploy, and operate software in production, you have a platform. Andrew Clay Shafer and Kelsey Hightower discuss different choices available in the platform space, from unstructured to structured with all the considerations along the road to operational maturity.If you build, deploy, and operate software in production, you have a platform. Andrew Clay Shafer and Kelsey Hightower discuss different choices available in the platform space, from unstructured to structured with all the considerations along the road to operational maturity.yesyes2015 in Reviewhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/2015-in-review/
Thu, 31 Dec 2015 13:18:51 -0800 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode053.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout53We’ve made it through two years of ADO! It seems like only yesterday that we recorded our first year-end episode (which you can listen to at arresteddevops.com/27). And we’re back again to talk about what 2015 was for us, in the world of DevOps, and the world of ADO. Plus, Matt and Bridget wax nostalgic about cable management from when we managed data centers.We’ve made it through two years of ADO! It seems like only yesterday that we recorded our first year-end episode (which you can listen to at arresteddevops.com/27). And we’re back again to talk about what 2015 was for us, in the world of DevOps, and the world of ADO. Plus, Matt and Bridget wax nostalgic about cable management from when we managed data centers.We’ve made it through two years of ADO! It seems like only yesterday that we recorded our first year-end episode (which you can listen to at arresteddevops.com/27). And we’re back again to talk about what 2015 was for us, in the world of DevOps, and the world of ADO. Plus, Matt and Bridget wax nostalgic about cable management from when we managed data centers.Events

ChefConf (all three hosts were speakers, and we actually were in the same place at the same time!)

DevOpsDays Rockies (Matt was a speaker)

ALM Forum (Matt gave his 5 love languages talk)

DevOpsDays Minneapolis (Bridget was an organizer, Matt did an ignite about @petechesbot)

ThatConference (Matt gave a talk)

DevOpsDays Detroit (Matt gave a couple talks)

Bridget spoke at about 23 events, including oscon, velocity NY and Amsterdam, Chef Conf, QCon, and more. And she’ll be giving a tutorial at oscon in May.

Podcast Recommendation

]]>yesyesMeasurement and Sharing With Nicole Forsgrenhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/measurement-and-sharing/
Tue, 15 Dec 2015 11:20:55 -0600 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode052.mp3
Matty Stratton
52Chef's Dr. Nicole Forsgren has a frank talk with Matt about the often neglected portions of CAMS theory - Measurement and Sharing. She gives real-world, practical tips on how to use data to drive a transformation...and even how culture can be measured.Chef's Dr. Nicole Forsgren has a frank talk with Matt about the often neglected portions of CAMS theory - Measurement and Sharing. She gives real-world, practical tips on how to use data to drive a transformation...and even how culture can be measured.Chef's Dr. Nicole Forsgren has a frank talk with Matt about the often neglected portions of CAMS theory - Measurement and Sharing. She gives real-world, practical tips on how to use data to drive a transformation...and even how culture can be measured.

]]>yesyesDevOpsDays 2015 Year in Review With John Willishttps://www.arresteddevops.com/devopsdays-2015/
Tue, 01 Dec 2015 11:15:59 -0800 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode051.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout51DevOpsDays Core Organizer John Willis drops by to talk with the crew about some of the challenges (and fun) of organizing a DevOpsDays event. We also discuss the history of DevOpsDays, and share some fun war stories.DevOpsDays Core Organizer John Willis drops by to talk with the crew about some of the challenges (and fun) of organizing a DevOpsDays event. We also discuss the history of DevOpsDays, and share some fun war stories.DevOpsDays Core Organizer John Willis drops by to talk with the crew about some of the challenges (and fun) of organizing a DevOpsDays event. We also discuss the history of DevOpsDays, and share some fun war stories.

]]>yesyesSwitching Teams: From Linux to Windows and Windows to Linuxhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/os-switching/
Mon, 30 Nov 2015 03:58:51 -0600 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode050.mp3
and Trevor Hess50What are some of the gotcha's that exist when switching operating systems? Trevor talks with Matthew Walter about the differences that exist and their own challenges as they've started their journeys into new operating systems.What are some of the gotcha's that exist when switching operating systems? Trevor talks with Matthew Walter about the differences that exist and their own challenges as they've started their journeys into new operating systems.What are some of the gotcha's that exist when switching operating systems? Trevor talks with Matthew Walter about the differences that exist and their own challenges as they've started their journeys into new operating systems.Checkouts

Trevor

Matthew

]]>yesyesWhat Is New at Puppet? With Eric Sorensonhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/puppet/
Wed, 25 Nov 2015 08:12:13 -0600 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode049.mp3
Matty Stratton
49Special guest Eric Sorenson of Puppet Labs chats with Matt about all the new hotness with Puppet, including Application Orchestration. Plus, Matt and Eric put on their pundit hats and talk about the acquisition of Ansible by Red Hat.Special guest Eric Sorenson of Puppet Labs chats with Matt about all the new hotness with Puppet, including Application Orchestration. Plus, Matt and Eric put on their pundit hats and talk about the acquisition of Ansible by Red Hat.Special guest Eric Sorenson of Puppet Labs chats with Matt about all the new hotness with Puppet, including Application Orchestration. Plus, Matt and Eric put on their pundit hats and talk about the acquisition of Ansible by Red Hat.Various links referenced in the episode!

Matt and Eric are pretty sure the only reason that Red Hat acquired Ansible was to get Robyn Bergeron back.

]]>yesyesTest Driven Infrastructure With Arthur Maltson and Michael Goetzhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/tdi/
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 01:27:31 -0600 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode048.mp3
Matty Stratton
48Testing your infrastructure code is critical. But exactly HOW do you go about doing this? Matt talks with Arthur Maltson and Michael Goetz about using tools such as Test Kitchen, Chef Audit Mode, InSpec, and Chef Compliance to help you build confidence in your infracode.Testing your infrastructure code is critical. But exactly HOW do you go about doing this? Matt talks with Arthur Maltson and Michael Goetz about using tools such as Test Kitchen, Chef Audit Mode, InSpec, and Chef Compliance to help you build confidence in your infracode.Testing your infrastructure code is critical. But exactly HOW do you go about doing this? Matt talks with Arthur Maltson and Michael Goetz about using tools such as Test Kitchen, Chef Audit Mode, InSpec, and Chef Compliance to help you build confidence in your infracode.

Check Outs

Arthur

Matt

]]>yesyesTis the Season...For Scaling! With Rob Cummings and Matt Curryhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/seasonal-scaling/
Fri, 13 Nov 2015 15:51:25 -0600 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode047.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout47Holiday! It’s a time of merriment… and terror. Let’s talk about how to prepare for a known spike in traffic, and what’s worked (and hasn’t)!Holiday! It’s a time of merriment… and terror. Let’s talk about how to prepare for a known spike in traffic, and what’s worked (and hasn’t)!Holiday! It’s a time of merriment… and terror. Let’s talk about how to prepare for a known spike in traffic, and what’s worked (and hasn’t)!Checkouts

Bridget:

]]>yesyesITIL Eye for the DevOps Folks With Steven Boydhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/itil/
Fri, 30 Oct 2015 21:24:02 -0600 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode046.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout46What's this ITIL thing all about? How can it complement DevOps? Can't we all just get along? Special guest Steven Boyd joins us to discuss how ITIL can help an organization, and help correct some misconceptions about what ITIL is (and is not).What's this ITIL thing all about? How can it complement DevOps? Can't we all just get along? Special guest Steven Boyd joins us to discuss how ITIL can help an organization, and help correct some misconceptions about what ITIL is (and is not).What's this ITIL thing all about? How can it complement DevOps? Can't we all just get along? Special guest Steven Boyd joins us to discuss how ITIL can help an organization, and help correct some misconceptions about what ITIL is (and is not).

Checkouts

Trevor

]]>yesyesCreating DevOps Communities and Events With Andy Burgin, Dustin Collins, and Nathen Harveyhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/communities/
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 09:32:23 -0700 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode045.mp3
Matty Stratton
and Trevor Hess45Andy Burgin, Dustin Collins, and Nathen Harvey join Matt and Trevor to talk about what it takes to create DevOps events, Meetups, and communities.Andy Burgin, Dustin Collins, and Nathen Harvey join Matt and Trevor to talk about what it takes to create DevOps events, Meetups, and communities.Andy Burgin, Dustin Collins, and Nathen Harvey join Matt and Trevor to talk about what it takes to create DevOps events, Meetups, and communities.Matt spends the entire episode claiming that Nathen was famous for being on ADO11, when in fact it was ADO14.

Matt

]]>yesyesInfrastructure as Code With Joshua Timberman, Eric Sorenson, and Robyn Bergeronhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/infrastructure-as-code/
Thu, 01 Oct 2015 08:31:42 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode044.mp3
Matty Stratton
and Trevor Hess44What does "infrastructure as code" actually mean? How is it different from configuration management? Special guests Joshua Timberman (Chef), Eric Sorenson (Puppet Labs), and Robyn Bergeron (Ansible) talk with Matt and Trevor about this very topic.What does "infrastructure as code" actually mean? How is it different from configuration management? Special guests Joshua Timberman (Chef), Eric Sorenson (Puppet Labs), and Robyn Bergeron (Ansible) talk with Matt and Trevor about this very topic.What does "infrastructure as code" actually mean? How is it different from configuration management? Special guests Joshua Timberman (Chef), Eric Sorenson (Puppet Labs), and Robyn Bergeron (Ansible) talk with Matt and Trevor about this very topic.The Reddit post referenced in the episode:

]]>yesyesCognitive Neuroscience With Courtney Nash & Lindsay Holmwoodhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/brains/
Wed, 23 Sep 2015 01:22:18 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode043.mp3
Bridget Kromhout
and Trevor Hess43Trevor and Bridget chat with Courtney Nash (O'Reilly Media) and Lindsay Holmwood (Australian Government Digital Transformation Office) about cognitive neuroscience. We'll talk about recognizing cognitive fallacies, the psychology of alert design, how to make your conference proposals their most appealing, and about empathy from a scientific point of view.Trevor and Bridget chat with Courtney Nash (O'Reilly Media) and Lindsay Holmwood (Australian Government Digital Transformation Office) about cognitive neuroscience. We'll talk about recognizing cognitive fallacies, the psychology of alert design, how to make your conference proposals their most appealing, and about empathy from a scientific point of view.Trevor and Bridget chat with Courtney Nash (O'Reilly Media) and Lindsay Holmwood (Australian Government Digital Transformation Office) about cognitive neuroscience. We'll talk about recognizing cognitive fallacies, the psychology of alert design, how to make your conference proposals their most appealing, and about empathy from a scientific point of view.yesyesChatOps Extravaganza With Jason Hand, Sasha Rosenbaum, and Peter Burkholderhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/chatops/
Thu, 10 Sep 2015 13:00:13 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode042.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout42Matt & Trevor sit down with Jason Hand (VictorOps), Sasha Rosenbaum (10th Magnitude), and Peter Burkholder (Chef) to discuss ChatOps.Matt & Trevor sit down with Jason Hand (VictorOps), Sasha Rosenbaum (10th Magnitude), and Peter Burkholder (Chef) to discuss ChatOps.Matt & Trevor sit down with Jason Hand (VictorOps), Sasha Rosenbaum (10th Magnitude), and Peter Burkholder (Chef) to discuss ChatOps.Transcript

Recording Live from DevOpsDays Chicago!

ChatOps is used by many teams and companies as the main communication tool for day to day chat, and their most important activities. In fact, ChatOps may be taking the place of email in the workplace for internal communication for tech teams as it helps communication during DevOps activities like deploys, code pushes, etc. This episode discusses best practices (if there are any) of ChatOps and how to make sure you are getting the most from your team communication tools.

Asynchronous vs. Synchronous Communication

25% of the work week is spent managing your inbox. You can actually increase productivity by moving to Sync communication…we think.

Sasha: ChatOps creates an enormous amount of noise while at the same time makes communication grouped and searchable.

Discussion suggests it is up to the user to mediate that noise, but is it the user, the culture, or the conversation itself that dictates the role of chat? Tivo is given as an example of user mediation: you recorded a shit ton of stuff, and watched only what you wanted.

The panel comes to the conclusion that important decisions should lean away from ChatOps, and into a more formal, permanent form of communication. “Important things will ‘re-bubble’ again,” but the chatroom is not the place if a team consensus is needed, especially if the team is remote.
- Create a culture where ChatOps is used in the way you need.
- Risky to go “Super Pendulum Swing” in one direction or the other.

What is ChatOps good at?

Solving the communication problem.

Brings everybody into the same experience. Even if you are across Europe, or accross the room, you are having the same experience.

Great for in the moment Q & A.

Even with one on one questions, if the answer is shared in a public channel, the information is given to all on the team which moderates the need for repeated questions, and increases team efficiency. You need to be constantly pairing. If you direct message someone, you are keeping that information from the team. “If you are not working in your chat tool, you are not collaborating.”

Shared History

Makes communication searchable, and organized by topic, or at least team.

Rooms should be broken down to their smallest parts. Topics, Meetings, Projects, they should all be open spaces for all departments.

Getting messages/alerts from integrated tools is perhaps one of the most important features of ChatOps in DevOps: Jenkins, Github, Travis, etc.

What’s the Problem?

There are just too many messages. But they are necessary messages.

Internal ChatOps tool is almost useless when you are a consultant and you are all working on different clients.

Problems with Adoption?

In your organization, if you are considering chat tools for different purposes, use benchmarking and measurements to monitor your usage and data in each tool (in this case, chat vs. email)

]]>yesyesPodcast Me Maybe With Kyle Kingsburyhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/podcast-me-maybe/
Sat, 15 Aug 2015 09:37:51 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode041.mp3
Matty Stratton,
Trevor Hess,
and Bridget Kromhout41Matt, Trevor, and Bridget chat with Kyle Kingsbury (Stripe) about his research on failure in distributed systems.Matt, Trevor, and Bridget chat with Kyle Kingsbury (Stripe) about his research on failure in distributed systems.Matt, Trevor, and Bridget chat with Kyle Kingsbury (Stripe) about his research on failure in distributed systems.Matt, Trevor, and Bridget catch up with Kyle Kingsbury about his research on failure in distributed systems, lighting rigs controlled by code, consent and representation, and more.

Call Me Maybe: an exploration of failure in distributed systems using the Jepsen tool.

Bridget:

Trevor:

Matt:

Amazon Echo

Helicarrier LEGO set

]]>yesyesBuilding an Ops Team With Charity Majors, Patrick McDonnell, and MCRhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/building-an-ops-team/
Wed, 29 Jul 2015 10:31:20 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode040.mp3
Bridget Kromhout
and Trevor Hess40Bridget and Trevor are joined by Charity Majors (Facebook), as well as Mike Rembetsy and Patrick McDonnell (Etsy) for a frank discussion on what goes into building a great ops team.Bridget and Trevor are joined by Charity Majors (Facebook), as well as Mike Rembetsy and Patrick McDonnell (Etsy) for a frank discussion on what goes into building a great ops team.Bridget and Trevor are joined by Charity Majors (Facebook), as well as Mike Rembetsy and Patrick McDonnell (Etsy) for a frank discussion on what goes into building a great ops team.Charity Majors (Parse/Facebook) is an “Accidental Computerer.” She was the first infrastructure hire at Parse, which was acquired by Facebook in April 2013. Charity handles all of the backend operations and DBA work, and manages a team of 7 engineers.

Patrick McDonnell is a web operations manager at Etsy. He made the transition from individual contributor to management a few years ago.

Mike Rembetsy (MCR) is the VP of Technical Operations at Etsy. He was one of the first ops people at Etsy when he joined in 2008, and has helped grow the team to over 50 engineers since then.

Charity points out that your first question should be whether or not you actually need an ops team. She says, “There are a lot of places out there that think they need traditional operations engineers, when all they really need is someone to really care about their infrastructure… You should have genuinely hard operations problems before you even start looking to hire engineers.”

Once you do start down the path of building an ops team, MCR notes that you have to maintain it. You’ll need to grow the team, grow the individuals, grow the culture, which, if your company is in a startup phase, can be distracting to the overall goals.

“The glue that holds a team together is how well people interact with one another, how well they respect each other,” says MCR. “That’s what you build good ops teams on, and frankly, that’s what you build any good team on.”

As a growing company, we suggest you follow this process:

understand/establish your mission

communicate that mission clearly to the interviewing team

find people who can fulfill that mission

understand the fact that technical skills are great, but at the end of the day, it’s about the chemistry and culture of your team

Trevor agrees that cultural concerns are absolutely an issue, and asks for suggestions on how to interview for that.

MCR explains that at Etsy, they split their interview questions into technical questions and cultural questions about how the interviewees handled particular situations, as well as other skills.

Charity notes that good ops engineers are good at learning things, but some people freeze up when they’re put on the spot. She suggests providing interviewees with at least 50% of the questions beforehand, so they have a chance to prepare the preliminary information before interacting with her in a formal interview. “You want people to bring you the self that you’re going to be working with on a day-to-day basis,” she says, “not the self that is freaking out and wondering how they’re being perceived.”

Transitioning into the topic of management, Charity brings up the point that if, as a manager, you’re still responsible for key pieces of the infrastructure, you’re holding your team back in their technical development.

One of the jobs of a manager, MCR says, is to help motivate your team, and then step aside and let people get things done. In doing this, you let them succeed, as well as fail, and grow as a result of those experiences. He references Daniel Pink’s book, Drive, and the three pieces of science that motivate human beings: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

“A manager’s role is a facilitator,” says Patrick. “Everyone should be doing what they think they need to do. It’s my job to remove obstacles that come in their way and make sure I can smooth things out if need be, but really, it’s to encourage and allow people to reach their full potential.”

Etsy has two separate career paths: one for individual contributors and another for management, which allows for the honing of particular skills specific to the end goal.

Charity agrees wholeheartedly with this approach, and says emphatically, “Management isn’t a promotion. It’s a career change.”

In addition, manager and leader is not synonymous. Some people are much better leaders than they are managers, and vice versa. It is also possible to be a leader while continuing as an individual contributor. In fact, Patrick points out that in some circumstances, you might actually lose influence when moving into a management role if you’re already a leader amongst your peers.

Bridget asks the panel, “What’s your best advice for someone in the position of building an ops team?”
Patrick: “Focus on hiring good people. Hire people that you like. Hire people that you trust. Hire people that, maybe they need to do a little more research, maybe spend a little more time on StackExchange than the next person, but you know that they’re going to get the job done in the way that you need to get the job done.”

Charity: “Build your networks. Go to meetups, talk to people. Don’t just talk to the popular kids. Reach out to diverse communities and diverse crowds, and go meet people who are doing cool and exciting things, who are slightly off the beaten path. The more people you know, the better you’re going to be at hiring.”

MCR: “Make sure that you address conflict. Make sure you create a safe place for the people you do hire, to have open, honest conversations with one another. There’s nothing more toxic to a team than people chatting behind other people’s backs.

Upcoming Events:

DevOpsDays at #alltheplaces

]]>yesyesEating Sushi With Andrew Clay Shaferhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/eating-sushi-with-andrew-clay-shafer/
Fri, 17 Jul 2015 22:28:34 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode039.mp3
Matty Stratton
and Bridget Kromhout39Matt and Bridget sit down with Andrew Clay Shafer (finally!) at DevOpsDays Minneapolis to discuss his thoughts on what's going on with the DevOps world since 2009, as well as his opinions on podcasts having episode numbers. Sadly, no sushi was actually consumed.Matt and Bridget sit down with Andrew Clay Shafer (finally!) at DevOpsDays Minneapolis to discuss his thoughts on what's going on with the DevOps world since 2009, as well as his opinions on podcasts having episode numbers. Sadly, no sushi was actually consumed.Matt and Bridget sit down with Andrew Clay Shafer (finally!) at DevOpsDays Minneapolis to discuss his thoughts on what's going on with the DevOps world since 2009, as well as his opinions on podcasts having episode numbers. Sadly, no sushi was actually consumed.Transcript

Coming to you live from DevOpsDays Minneapolis, Matt and Bridget sit down with Andrew Clay Shafer in front of a live audience to talk about the growth of DevOps, explain some commonly heard but not always understood terms, and more (after a brief detour on why episode numbers on podcasts are obnoxious, and why this episode is titled “Eating Sushi with Andrew Clay Shafer”).

Don’t know who Andrew is? He suggests you Google him, but then goes on to give a little bit of his background: he’s been involved in software development and technology for almost 20 years. After rooming with Luke Kanies, founder of Puppet Labs in college, Andrew got interested in operations and system administration.

Matt takes a moment to explain how Arrested DevOps started: “I started listening to John and Damon on DevOps Cafe and understood about 5% of what they were talking about… There are these things that we, as part of this community, tend to know, and what we try to do with this show is break it down for the people who don’t have the tenacity or stubbornness that I did.”

Along that vein, Matt asks Andrew to expand upon the “wall of confusion” idea that was referenced in his 2009 talk, and has become a commonly-used (but not always understood) term in DevOps lingo.

“It’s a jargony way to talk about the different incentives that exist between developers and operations,” says Andrew. “There’s a transition that happened as software became service-oriented, versus shipped on CDs, where the servers now become this critical part of the value chain, and if you deemphasize the system administration and operation of those servers, then you don’t actually have software. In the middle of these two worlds, where in one, systems administrators were for keeping the printers and the mail server up, to where they’re a critical part of the value chain in the new world, there are broken IT practices that don’t make sense when you’re trying to manage a service. It means recognizing that the best way to optimize a system isn’t to just throw random stuff onto production servers, and then make it ops problem, but to recognize that the infrastructure itself has become an application, and that you can manage these things as an application.”

Andrew points out that as much as he enjoys the attention (and who wouldn’t?), he was simply in the right place at the right time, and the right people listened to him. He connected dots to take advantage of tools and practices that were already used to manage software process, and bring that into the infrastructure and operations works.

Bridget asks, “You mentioned Agile, and you mentioned Scrum. I’ve heard you say that Scrum is a disease. Can you give us your thoughts on where that sort of stuff is going?”

“My personal opinion is that Scrum’s impact on software development is net negative,” Andrew says. “I think it’s particularly bad when people try to adopt it in operations. It’s really susceptible to problems when you have any interrupt-driven work whatsoever.” He suggests pursuing kanban and chatops, making work explicit and visible – tools that allow both you and your management to understand the full context and value of the situation.

The conversation transitions into talking about how to make actual changes to your operations and infrastructure teams, rather than always jumping through hoops to make the necessary changes to keep the pages up or the apps running smoothly. The answer isn’t to simply communicate how difficult it is to manage a system – upper management won’t understand the pain, and therefore won’t listen to the complaints. You have to involve the rest of the team so that they understand what you’re going through first-hand. You get empathy from suffering. This all plays back to Conway’s Law, as Andrew points out: “If you believe Conway’s Law is true (as I do), then you understand that your org structure (who communicaties with whom, who reports to whom, etc.) determines the outcome of any decision.”

Bridget brings up the point that this is the essence of dogfooding: requiring not only your engineers to be in the code, but your employees to be using the products that you’re creating, so that there’s a general understanding of why things work the way that they do, and a buyin for the necessary changes.

Bridget asks Andrew to expand more on what he thinks we are (and should be) optimizing for, which he touched on briefly during his talk at DevOpsDays.

Andrew counters that in order to do that properly, we need to first frame the context, which is a problem that plauges DevOps, Agile, and many other systems with which people are trying to transform their companies – you can’t do something prescriptive until you have enough context to understand where you’re starting from. For example, the diet and exercise program you’d give to someone who’s relatively healthy and active is very different than someone with a different set of circumstances. By the same token, you can’t prescribe a solution to an infrastructure problem without first investigating the roots causes and understanding what the foundation is.

However, if you model the world as everything is an agent trying to maximize some function, then the basic premise of your decisions is cause and effect. “Looking at the way people behave, and how this plays out within organizations, you might have very different patterns of interactions and patterns of health.” Andrew continues, “Therefore, what you’ll tell people do is very different from context to context.”

Despite all of the different scenarios, Andrew argues that there are three things you can always do:

Understand the incentives that people are motivated by

Align the incentives with behaviors

Radiate information to help people make different choices

Wondering what the Nash equilibrium and Pareto efficiency game theories are? Here are a few links:

]]>yesyesCareer Devops With Jeff Hackerthttps://www.arresteddevops.com/career-devops/
Thu, 25 Jun 2015 12:38:23 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode038.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout38In this episode, Jeff Hackert discusses developing your career in DevOps.In this episode, Jeff Hackert discusses developing your career in DevOps.In this episode, Jeff Hackert discusses developing your career in DevOps.Jeff’s background includes 30 years of experience working in people management. Specifically in developing the management skills, and careers of Software Engineering teams. He now works at Chef as the Director of Learning Experiences.

What is Career Development

Just thinking about career development in the workplace is not very common. Jeff discusses statistics around the specifics of Career Development and implementation strategies. For example, in one study, more than 60% of respondents said that Career Development was of “little to no” importance to their current employer. Less than 5% of employees at some organizations surveyed receive any career feedback from their current bosses.

Jeff: There are different approaches people usually take as they grow into their careers. The first is a “go with the flow” approach which can cause issues when leadership skills are not developed in response. A second approach is more proactive in which you plan out and describe your career and where you would like to go in the future.

What do you do?

The panel discusses their own careers and their attempts to summarize “what you do,” their weaknesses, and their strengths. Especially if the description is to be seen by the entire organization. Can you brag? Should you be vulnerable? For some, listing strengths as an engineer can actually be more difficult than listing weaknesses.

Jeff: “It’s a huge act of vulnerability to say who you want to be in an organization”

Jeff: “Every Engineer is responsible for their own career development […] and you are 100% responsible for the career development for every engineer on your team”

Can you be the Director of Flowers?

The group discusses the merit of titles and how relevant and useful they are within an organization.
Jeff: “Titles don’t matter, and they absolutely matter.”

Ultimately, titles should be descriptive of what you want to do in that position and are indicative of positional authority more than anything else.

Management is not for everybody.

Jeff: Performance management is not the same as Career Development. Often, when Software Engineers get promoted to managers, coding becomes a secondary responsibility and People Management becomes a priority.
For some, this is not the trajectory they want for their careers, and that’s ok. Providing context for feedback and guidance is a great way to identify these mismatches between current position and where someone wants to be.

Trevor: Doing an emotional check-in to describe your current emotional state is a powerful management and communication tool (from the Core Protocols by Jim McCarthy - http://www.mccarthyshow.com/online/)

Jeff discusses the usefulness of check-ins on every level within an organization.

You know you have a good manager when:
1. They expresses real concern with your career development, separate from quality conversations.
2. They create opportunities for you to realize your goals. (or at least get closer)
3. They have your best interest at heart.

…and then there’s the checkouts:

]]>yesyesDisasters!https://www.arresteddevops.com/disasters/
Thu, 28 May 2015 22:23:56 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode037.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout37In this episode, Stephanie Van Dyk and Mark Imbriaco discuss how to communicate and how to recover in the event of complete disasters.In this episode, Stephanie Van Dyk and Mark Imbriaco discuss how to communicate and how to recover in the event of complete disasters.In this episode, Stephanie Van Dyk and Mark Imbriaco discuss how to communicate and how to recover in the event of complete disasters.Stephanie Van Dyk@sevandyk is an SRE at Google, and has also worked on healthcare.gov.

Mark Imbriaco@markimbriaco is co-founder and CEO of OperableInc. He’s worked previously at DigitalOcean, GitHub, LivingSocial, Heroku, and 37signals.

Bridget starts by asking Mark what Operable is all about. Mark explains that Operable is trying to help people who are on the “pointy end” of incidents. They’re trying to build tools that help people collaboratively fix problems. “There’s a lot of tools these days that do things like wake you up and alert when you when there is a problem,” says Mark, “but we think there’s a lot of room to help people actually solve problems.”

Stephanie briefly goes through some of the history of healthcare.gov, and how she first learned about it. Her position was unique, she points out. “We worked very hard, and very long hours… We were also in the fortunate position of having a lot of authority, which is important if you’re trying to fix a disaster. There’s a lot of problems to solve, and you don’t want any of your additional problems to be ‘Well, who gave you permission to do that?’”

“That’s a really good point – not all disasters are created equal,” Bridget notes, “and maybe we should take a step back and think, what are the ingredients that make something a disaster?”

Mark: I’m used to catestrophic problems that last for a few hours at most, or in the really bad case, mabe it lasts for two or three or four days, not something that goes on for weeks or months, so that’s a different perspective from what I have, so I’m super interested to hear about [healthcare.gov].

Matt: I think there’s the disasters where there’s a thing that happens, that’s maybe localized to one type of scenario; then there is what happens in an episode of This American Life, where it’s just one thing after another and everything unravels. There’s a quote from the episode that I like to think about when we think about these bigger disasters that are more than just an outage that may be far reaching:

“One ingredient of many fiascos is that great, massive, heart-wrenching chaos and failure, are more likely to fail, when great ambition has come into play, when plans are big, expectations are great, and hopes are at their highest.”

“I think you’re certainly right,” agrees Stephanie. “In order for something to be a disaster, the stakes have to be quite high… An outage that you find, and fix, and write a postmortem, and everyone learns something, and the users all get over their hurt, that’s not a disaster. That’s just life.

At times, there are incidents that leave scar tissue in their wake, making people wonder for years to come if they truly want to use certain products, or trust their data to a certain company. Mark reminisces: “The gutwrenching terror is, are we going to get our customers’ data back, or is it just gone? As an ops person, there’s almost nothing more terrifying than losing data.”

This provides a perfect segue into some of the non-obvious issues that arise with disasters. Stephanie brings up the point that you have to be prepared to regain the trust of your users. “How people think about your service is going to determine the fallout of it, and the impact. It’s interesting – it’s not something engineers like to think about very much, because they simply fix the problem. But someone has to be the one to reassure people that it’ll be ok.”

Mark agrees: It’s really, really hard to be in the middle of responding to a serious problem, and also have to be the person who needs to communicate about that externally. There’s so much good will that can be gained from being as transparent and public as you can about what’s going on, without pulling punches or hiding, even if things are really bad.

This is all well and good, but Bridget brings up a good point:
“How do you know exactly how and what to communicate to people?”

Stephanie: There are definitely rings of communication. You have to be able to talk to the other engineers who are working on the problem, and those conversations are going to be very different than how you talk to your customers, even if you’re trying to be super open and honest. Your customers don’t care about where in the logs you found that tiny error. They care about when it’s going to be fixed, and whether you’re actually working on it… Also, the person who’s in charge of solving the outage should not be the same person who’s in charge of communicating about the outage. You should have different roles for that.

Mark agrees emphatically, and also noted that wording is incredibly important – not only what you say, but how you say it, and the words that you use. “There are three things I want to get across. The first thing is, I want to apologize to people. It has to be a sincere apology. The other thing I need to do is make sure people feel confident that I understand what happened. I need to display confidence, and a really firm grasp about the problem. The last thing I need to do is tell them what I’ll do to try to reduce the likelihood of something like this happening again.”

The conversation turns a corner as Matt asks how you plan for outages and prevent disasters. Stephanie jumps in, and reminds us all:

“If you don’t test your backups, you don’t really have backups. Similarly, if you don’t test your outage plan, you don’t have an outage plan.”

She suggests setting up brainstorming sessions with a handful of people from your team, appointing a “DM” (dubbed “Disaster Master” rather than “Dungeon Master” by Tyler), and running through possible scenarios. Keep an eye out for a Kickstarter in the near future ;)

There are definitely advantages to documenting incident reports along the way, but how do you balance the speed of talking through a solution out loud, and the value of face-to-face communication to build trust vs. the need to document things for posterity?
Mark: How you interact on a day-to-day basis is also how you should communicate during an outage. The last thing you want to do is change your mode of communication when everything is falling apart and you’ve got high stress.

Matt posits that sometimes what’s a disaster for one company isn’t for another, because of their size, their logistical capabilities, etc., but also, sometimes what is being presented as a disaster isn’t actually all that bad.

Stephanie identifies the first benchmark as determining whether or not your users are hurting. “If they’re not hurting yet, you might have a disaster coming, but I don’t think it qualifies. But if your users are hurting, that’s when you really need to jump on board and get focused.”

Mark agrees, and adds that being able to quantify how many users are affected, and in what way they’re affected, is hugely important. “That’s different than monitoring. Monitoring may tell you that the server’s down, but it doesn’t tell you how many users that impacts.” He reminds us that when you’re working at scale, “services are down for somebody literally all of the time. “What is the threshold where it becomes a disaster? When do you need to start talking about it publicly and in status? Those are questions you really need to answer up front.”

Matt

I’m also obsessed with Hearthstone on iOS now (World of Warcraft card game thingy)

]]>yesyesDr. BOFH, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the DevOpshttps://www.arresteddevops.com/reformed-bofh/
Thu, 14 May 2015 21:58:42 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode036.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout36In this episode, 'reformed' Bastard Operators From Hell Yvo van Doorn, Chris Read, and Kevin Hubbard discuss how the industry and their jobs have changed over time, especially with the advent of DevOps.In this episode, 'reformed' Bastard Operators From Hell Yvo van Doorn, Chris Read, and Kevin Hubbard discuss how the industry and their jobs have changed over time, especially with the advent of DevOps.In this episode, 'reformed' Bastard Operators From Hell Yvo van Doorn, Chris Read, and Kevin Hubbard discuss how the industry and their jobs have changed over time, especially with the advent of DevOps.Chris Read, Kevin Hubbard, and Yvo van Doorn are reformed BOFH’s (Basterd Operator’s From Hell).

Chris is back on the podcast again, this time talking about his expereince as a SysAdmin in past lives.

Kevin is currently the DevOps Engineer for BCycle at [Trek Bicycle Corporation](), and was a SysAdmin for 15+ years.

Yvo previously worked at classmates.com and McGraw Hill Corporation as a SysAdmin, and is now at Chef Software.

Before we get started, you’ll need to understand the origin story of BOFH. There were stories posted on Usenet back in the 90’s, supposedly authored by a computer operator named Simon whose sole purpose was to terrorize the users of his systems. The phrase “How great would my job be if it weren’t for the f***ing users!” resonated with many SysAdmins (and still does!).

Matt starts the episode off asking what it was like as everyone was starting out in this field.

Kevin: To me, it was sort of operating in a scarcity model. You had limited resources, and it seemed like anytime there was a new ask for an application, I immediately went to ‘How am I going to ask for the capacity to run this?’ and I would just get so frustrated. It boiled down to ‘How are we going to support this?’ That was my standard line when someone would bring up something new, and I wish I had trophies to give those people for all of their good ideas, because we just couldn’t get it off the ground with the resources that we had. It wasn’t a fun way to operate, but it was the most realistic view.

Chris: When in high school and university I was the System Administrator for the school systems. It was astounding seeing what damage to the system can be done – how people trying to do something could affect shared resources, and the after-effects of that. Most of the time it wasn’t malicious; it was due to ignorance, but it built up this mental attitude of ‘All users are just there to break things. We need to constrain them as much as possible, because when things break, we’re the ones that get shouted at.’

Matt: There was a belief that devs are stupid! All they’re going to do is break things, because they don’t care about the systems like a SysAdmin does, because they’re ours.

Yvo: Our devs were incentivized not to care because they were paid based on the amount of code they shipped. I’ve had some nightmare evenings trying to fix all of the problems.

Bridget then brought the conversation back around to incentives – are there situations when the incentives are diametrically opposed (or at least not aligend well) between the SysAdmins and the developers?

Matt brings up the point that developers are incentivized to build features, while SysAdmins are incentivized to bring stability, which at its most basic level is maintained by things not changing.

The viewpoint of ‘developers don’t know what they’re asking for’ is also a problem, Kevin reminds us. SysAdmins will often call the developer and explain why things work the way that they do, but won’t take the time to listen to the actual problem.

In reality, there’s a perception of other people touching “our stuff” and things will go wrong, but let’s face it: “there are all sorts of things that can go wrong that are often not a specific person’s action,” says Bridget.

Given that all of us here are supposedly reformed BOFH’s here, let’s chat about how things have changed, and what that process was.

Chris: I finally realized that my interactions with the developers were better if I went to them without the ‘clue stick’ and simply spoke to them, asking them if they realized the impact of their code. It finally clicked for me when I had to work together with the client-side SysAdmins as well as the developers at Thoughtworks. Our whole purpose was to get code written by two different development teams out into production, and it was only through being an advocate for both teams that I was able to build up a relationship with both teams and understand the value.

“It seems like DevOps has formalized the relationship between SysAdmins and developers,” says Kevin. “It seems like a much more natural, iterative process working with devs.” Because we’re working side by side, there’s much less going back and forth with having to figure out the direction and purpose behind projects, and simply getting to collaborate.

The “handing down stone tablets” philosophy not only no longer works… it has never worked!

In Yvo’s case, the change started to happen when the project management team was dissolved. Suddenly, a SysAdmin had to be a part of the development meetings, because there was no longer an intermediary passing information from one team to another. It immediately became more collaborative, and there was visibility into what was happening early on rather than being notified after everything was finished.

We’ve shifted from a mentality of ‘protection’ – teaching our “PFY’s” (pimply-faced youths) to protect their systems against the evil developers – to giving history lessons about how we got to the stage that we’re at now where we need to talk to all of the involved parties, and as Chris said, “having everyone focused on the goals, trying to see things from each other’s angles rather than antagonistcally.” This is how we, as a group, move forward.

“It takes a deliberate decision to shift,” Bridget observes. We have to be dedicated to teaching our PFY’s this new, collaborative way so that in the future, fewer people will start out with this BOFH mentality.

From there, we shift into How can we do better?

Matt asks, “We used to be this way – we’re better now – but what are some of the ways that we can still improve?”

“I want to be able to maintain this new flexibility that comes with DevOps, but I feel like there’s some decision-making that needs to be made as far as tools and standards go,” says Kevin. It’s a matter of balancing the old playbook of limited resources and mixing in the new cohesion and collaboration efforts.

We’ve done a great job of bringing in the greater teams of operations and developers, but most companies still have the one or two lone SysAdmins who are struggling on a daily basis to keep their heads above water. Yvo cautions that we need to bring them into the circle as well.

“If we can make their lives easier, they’re going to eventually go to another shop with the perception that being alone and supporting developers is not a bad thing, but right now they really don’t like life.”

Yvo

Bridget

Matt

]]>yesyesDevOps and Marketinghttps://www.arresteddevops.com/devops-and-marketing/
Wed, 29 Apr 2015 21:48:23 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode035.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout35Marketing departments are often told, 'Don't use the term DevOps incorrectly!'' But exactly HOW should our marketing peers use that term? How can we effectively talk about DevOps in the marketing space? Shannon Smith from 10th Magnitude and Jason Hand from VictorOps joined us to discuss this heated topic.Marketing departments are often told, 'Don't use the term DevOps incorrectly!'' But exactly HOW should our marketing peers use that term? How can we effectively talk about DevOps in the marketing space? Shannon Smith from 10th Magnitude and Jason Hand from VictorOps joined us to discuss this heated topic.Marketing departments are often told, 'Don't use the term DevOps incorrectly!'' But exactly HOW should our marketing peers use that term? How can we effectively talk about DevOps in the marketing space? Shannon Smith from 10th Magnitude and Jason Hand from VictorOps joined us to discuss this heated topic.Shannon Smith is the marketing manager for 10th Magnitude, a consulting firm based in Chicago. She’s a self-described “liberal arts nerd” and fell into the tech world through her job at 10th Magnitude. She has a love for well-crafted sentences, song parodies, and general cleverness, which has translated into a love for marketing and the challenges that come with getting an effective message delivered to the “great abyss.”

Jason Hand is a DevOps Evangelist at VictorOps. He’s been in the IT space since college, but it wasn’t until joining VictorOps that he’s ventured into a wider role, working closely with both marketing and product.

Matt starts off this unique episode by posing an important question:
“Why is DevOps something that people in marketing would even care about?”

Jason jumps in right away: “Obviously, the VictorOps tool is something we feel falls in line with a lot of the DevOps topics, in terms of the things we try to help engineers with. Being able to speak intelligently to the different subjects that fall within DevOps is very important, especially when it comes to marketing. As most of us know, we’re very averse to traditional sales and marketing tactics; we can sniff out those types of conversations before they even happen, and we’ll pivot and walk away.”

Shannon originally broached the topic during Open Spaces at DevOpsDays Chicago 2014. She was interested in the focus on community, but also intrigued by the jokes about how terrible traditional sales and marketing is. She wanted to know what she could do to combat the negative feelings surrounding these departments, as well as gain insight into what her team could do differently.

The group starts throwing out common pitfalls:
* Using #devops on Twitter and thinking that in doing so, your company is part of the conversation
* Packaging DevOps as a quick fix to deep-rooted problems
* Trying to follow traditional marketing and sales “rules”

“Even for those of us who are heavily invested in this DevOps thing,” says Jason, “who talk about it on a daily basis, sometimes we don’t even understand everything – all the ins and outs of what is DevOps – because it’s not just a thing. It’s a way of getting things done. It’s much bigger than just one thing. We are very patient and empathetic to that thought process,” he continues, “because we deal with it all the time. That’s part of the challenge within marketing, is how to turn that conversation into a succinct way of explaining it.”

Shannon explains that part of the problem with having a succinct explanation for DevOps, as well as how to sell it, is that there are multiple target audiences. “While we do use more traditional marketing for ‘decision makers’ – people who are busy and don’t have the time to talk about these abstract concepts, we’ve recognized that there are two or three very separate audiences, and we have to make multiple different messages work.”

The point is, your message is going to be very different depending on whether your audience is practitioner, decision maker, or champion. It could be that your company caters to all three, but then you must have separate messages catered to each of these groups. Otherwise you’ll be trying to mandate change from the top-down rather than getting the buy-in from people doing the actual work, or vice versa.

In a conversation with Matt earlier in the week, Steve Pereira said, “I’m in favor of having marketers speak to what they’re actually selling, which is never actually ‘DevOps.’ DevOps is bathwater in which all of these things are babies.”

Given all of these different audiences, Bridget asks the “elephant in the room” question: “When you’re talking about the target markets, how do you build an understanding of DevOps among people who aren’t engineers?”

Jason mentions that at VictorOps, they have an emphasis on moving agiley across the company. Even the marketing team works in sprints, getting things done on a project basis and having team standups. DevOps isn’t just for engineers – it’s applicable for everyone across the company.

But how do we make that happen in a practical sense?

Companies that are doing this successfully often exhibit certain qualities:
* Empathy to others, which allows silos to come down
* Transparency between teams via chat clients and in person
* Cross-company knowledge of what the top priorities are and what other departments are working on

This cross-company communication can be difficult at times, but ultimately it’s everyone’s responsibility to speak up if they see problems with the messaging. Bridget offers a solution: “If you’re going to have people external-facing in your organization, going out and evangelizing, they need to also be talking to the people inside the organization, who are developing the product or providing the professional services.”

With Jason’s role as DevOps Evangelist, he’s often out learning from the best. It’s his responsibility to bring the feedback directly back to the company and educate them on what he’s hearing from the community, and likewise it’s marketing and product’s responsibility to be open and willing to hear the feedback.

Collaboration and accessibility is what drives all of this, as Shannon pointed out. Being able to talk to people face-to-face is one thing, but using chat software to check in with the full company, or somehow checking in frequently with multiple teams is key.

For our listeners:
If you work in a larger organization, we’d love to hear about how you’ve solved this problem of communication throughout the company.
What’s resonated, and what hasn’t?
Tweet your answers to us at @arresteddevops.

Main takeaways:
Jason - Spend some time researching DevOps. Get to the [DevOpsDays]() events that are happening in your area. That’s where I’ve learned the most. I’ve made some great friends and contacts. Also, these events have helped me have the sense of empathy not only toward the challenges of the marketing and sales teams, but also the conversations that are taking place among all of the business units, no matter what size company. I can now take what I’ve learned, both online and offline, and take those insights and thoughts back to my team. For the time-being, I’m the one internally who’s teaching DevOps best practices. It’s really a matter of absorption. You can’t sit behind your desk and understand DevOps. You really have to get involved with others.

Shannon - Truly the biggest thing that I’ve taken away in the past 9 months is really trying to build up our grassroots messaging and the way that we’re reaching out to people. I think the best way to do that is go to these community events – be involved, listen, share, have natural conversations, and be genuine. Having a presence in the community says a lot more than any little tagline.

]]>yesyesWhat's New at Chef?https://www.arresteddevops.com/chefconf-2015/
Thu, 16 Apr 2015 21:44:54 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode034.mp3
Matty Stratton
and Trevor Hess34Recorded live at ChefConf 2015, we sat down with Julian Dunn, Seth Falcon, and Adam Edwards of Chef Software to talk about all the cool new things that Chef is cooking up - including Chef Delivery, Chef Analytics, and new awesome things with Chef itself!Recorded live at ChefConf 2015, we sat down with Julian Dunn, Seth Falcon, and Adam Edwards of Chef Software to talk about all the cool new things that Chef is cooking up - including Chef Delivery, Chef Analytics, and new awesome things with Chef itself!Recorded live at ChefConf 2015, we sat down with Julian Dunn, Seth Falcon, and Adam Edwards of Chef Software to talk about all the cool new things that Chef is cooking up - including Chef Delivery, Chef Analytics, and new awesome things with Chef itself!Seth Falcon is the Engineering General Manager for Chef Delivery.

Adam Edwards is the Engineering General Manager for the main Chef product.

Matt, Trevor, and Bridget gather at the Chef Newsroom at ChefConf 2015 to talk about the latest and greatest developments at Chef. They are joined by Seth Falcon, Julian Dunn, and Adam Edwards.

One of the biggest announcements at ChefConf 2015 was Chef Delivery. Matt asks what is Chef Delivery, and why is it interesting?

“Chef Delivery is a solution for continuously delivering infrastructure and applications, and it’s built on top of Chef,” says Seth, who’s heading up this new program within Chef. “We’re really excited about Chef Delivery. Successful software organizations use patterns to deliver software at high velocity collaboratively and safely. We’ve been able to distill some of those patterns into a workflow that we think will be easier for folks to adopt and learn.”

Seth continues: “The workflow is one that we’ve seen work, by working with customers to build these types of pipelines over and over again, and find those successful patterns. The overall workflow begins on a developer’s workstation, where they make a change, they do some local testing, and then submit it to the system, where some automated verification tests run. The job of those verification tests is to determine whether it’s worth the time of a human to do some code review on that change. Someone can then do some code review to approve the change. At that point, Delivery will build an asset for us that we could release. The workflow for building that asset is simple: do a merge onto the target branch (usually the master), rerun the same verification tests, which usually consists of unit tests, lint testing, and syntax checks, build that asset, and publish it into a repository where it can be fetched later. Then Delivery will provision an acceptance environment, should you need one, and deploy that asset into that acceptance environment, and run some tests to make sure that the deploy was successful. If it was, it waits there for further instruction. The last step is clicking the ‘Deliver’ button. That sets the system in motion to get the code all the way out. It first goes into a ‘Union’ stage, where if you had a number of projects that had some interactions, you’d be testing them together at their latest version, and making sure they’re good. If those tests succeed, Delivery rolls automatically for the rest of the stages – into a rehearsal environment, and then into a delivery environment.”

Interested in a more detailed description of the workflow? Seth continues to talk through some of the logistics in the podcast as Bridget and Matt ask questions about particulars. You can also check out this video about Delivery:

Seth concludes with, “A lot of what we’re providing here is an accelerant to teams, to give them that system that will allow them to move quickly and learn how to move quickly in that way.”

We transition into asking Adam Edwards, Engineering GM for the Chef product, what’s new in his world.

From here, we move into Chef Analytics, and turn the mic over to Product Manager Julian Dunn. He gives us a quick background on Analytics, explaining that it “gives you a way to visualize, query, and report on the events stream that’s coming from your Chef data. Analytics lets you not only visualize that data, but track events in that stream, and then handle them in various ways.”

Matt brings up his favorite part of Analytics, and brings up how it’s closely affiliated to security: “You can take those same audit rules that you write in Analytics, and apply them through your pipeline to test them there. What’s nice is that it’s only one thing to write.” It keeps things simple and straightforward, rather than needing to search through a huge amount of rules and regulations to ensure that everything is accounted for.

Julian agrees: “You can think of security as just another aspect of quality. We understand that you can’t get quality if you try to bolt it on to the back of a system. How many of you have worked with applications that didn’t have tests originally, and the software is just poor quality? We tend to treat security in this backwards way, where we think if we don’t build it into the system, down the road we can just do an audit and we’ll magically get compliance and security. If it’s not a characteristic that’s already there, it’s very difficult to achieve those directives.”

In addition, Analytics allows customers to report metrics and characteristics about your infrastructure to business owners. “One of the things we often hear from customers,” Julian says, “is how do I measure how successful I am at Chef?” If you’re able to use Chef Analytics, it provides you with a direct way to illustrate the ROI of investing in this type of technology.

This business aspect of Chef Analytics was one of the core announcements regarding the Analytics Product Suite at ChefConf, specifically highlighting the integration with Splunk. Julian explains the rationale behind this integration:
* Many enterprise customers are already using Splunk
* Splunk makes it very easy to draw visualizations and make inferences from data

Matt segues into an overview of ChefConf 2015 and asks everyone for their insights on this year’s event.

Bridget: One thing that stood out for me at ChefConf is that there’s a very unified community feeling. At a lot of conferences (that are very wonderful conferences!), there are very specific tracks, or specific groups of people who end up mixing more than with others, and at ChefConf, it definitely seems like there’s a very broad community who are all interacting with each other.

Trevor: I’ve been rocking the hallway track… and like Bridget said, everyone’s been fantastic. I’ve spoken with so many people here who I thought would never want to give me the time of day outside of our show, where we kind of have them pinned in a corner (laughs). The Open Spaces in particular were fantastic. Brandon Burton brought up a very sensitive topic: mental health, burnout, suicide… and it was such a breathtaking and emotional experience to hear everyone share personal experiences around that.

Julian: It’s really great that even as we’ve grown as a company and a community, we’ve retained certain attributes about that community. I think one of those is that there’s a little bit of quirkiness, and a little bit of uniqueness, and fun. Backend automation and IT has not necessarily been the most fun arena to work in, and I think this is a breath of fresh air to that sector. I hope we’re able to retain those attributes even as we continue to grow.

Matt: Some of this experience is really hard to explain. You can’t explain what the Las Vegas strip looks like at night, even if you’ve seen it in movies, until you’re there. I’m not saying this is like going to Vegas, but just like no one can describe the Matrix to you, you have to experience ChefConf for yourself.

]]>yesyesDevOps Culture Change With Bill Joyhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/devops-culture-change/
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 21:34:20 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode033.mp3
Matty Stratton33DevOps revolves a lot around what an organization and culture should look like. We talk about it on just about every episode of this podcast. Something we tend to skate around though is the how. How do you change the culture of an organization?DevOps revolves a lot around what an organization and culture should look like. We talk about it on just about every episode of this podcast. Something we tend to skate around though is the how. How do you change the culture of an organization?DevOps revolves a lot around what an organization and culture should look like. We talk about it on just about every episode of this podcast. Something we tend to skate around though is the how. How do you change the culture of an organization?

How to Change the Culture of an Organization

“Change management rests with the how” – Bill Joy

DevOps revolves a lot around what an organization and culture should look like. We talk about it on just about every episode of this podcast. Something we tend to skate around though is the how. How do you change the culture of an organization?

Matt got to sit down and have an incredible conversation with Bill Joy of the Joy Group about the how of influencing change. We didn’t talk about what changes companies needed to make, we talked about how to get companies to make the changes. Bill shared the often overlooked fact that change influence isn’t restricted to top levels of power in a company.

If I were to ask you right now, “What would make your company better?” I’m pretty sure your mind goes into overload with all of the things that you would change if you could. The thing that most people fail to realize is that they can make the changes, or at least influence them.

It doesn’t matter what level of the executive chain you sit at, you have the ability to influence change.

Any senior leader can mandate any change. If you’re a senior level executive, you can walk into the office and implement new strategies, create a new company wide rule, begin rapid movement events, or whatever you see fit to accomplish your ‘what’.

But it can’t stop there.

In mandating a change, you have to be very aware of how it will affect the company itself; the infrastructure, the culture, anticipate any resistance, who are the key stakeholders are, etc. If you don’t allow for these, your change could be very well unsuccessful and you lose a great deal of credibility as a leader.

Non Executives Can Influence Change Too

You might remember back when we had John Allspaw on our Etsy episode. (Give it a listen, if you missed it.) When asked “How do you implement developments in an organization when I’m not on the top; I’m coming from the bottom of the chain.” Allspaw answered: “I don’t know. I’ve always been in charge.”

What a great position to be in. However, not everyone is a high executive with the capability to mandate change. This doesn’t mean that you can’t influence change.

The question arises then: How do you influence change in your organization from the bottom?

Ask yourself: Who are my key influencers?

Change­ management is the influence of authority. That said, as you talk to the person you have deemed to be your authority, you have to remember the power of empathy.

Patrick Debois once said “We should stop calling it DevOps and call it common sense.”

Here’s the problem with that, not everyone is going to see it your way. Common sense is a relative term. If during any of your influencing meetings you find yourself thinking “This is crystal clear to me, why aren’t they seeing it?” that’s more about you than it is about them.

When you make the decision to mandate, or in this case, influence change, it is your responsibility to present your ideas so that people can see them clearly. If they aren’t seeing them clearly, there is a good chance that you aren’t communicating them effectively and didn’t take into consideration who your audience is.

Identify Your Audience: It’s all in the personality

One of the most popular personality tests around is the MBIT (Myers Briggs) which identifies the strengths and weaknesses of a person’s general personality. There are a bunch of alternatives to the test, but one that works really well with change management is the DiSC Profile, which you can take for free here. The test measures your strengths in four areas: Dominance; Influencing; Steadiness; and Compliance. All of which have different traits associated with them.

Before you attempt to influence another person, you need to have a firm grasp on who you are. For example, if you’re heavily dominant, your natural approach isn’t going to be effective on someone who is compliant. You have to adjust your approach and presentation to your audience.

Once you understand yourself, know your triggers. As a dominant go-getter, someone who takes a while to process things or lacks energy may really test your nerves in a social situation. Realize this upfront, prepare for it.

Read; Assess; Adapt & Tweak

Make it a point to put some time into reading your key influencer. Take special note of the tone in their emails, the speed of their decision making, their general demeanor, etc. These are going to give you clear indications of what personality traits they have, and which you need to play on in order to effectively communicate with them.

From here, you learn to adapt. Adapting is essentially wrapping the package up. Maybe you thought at first that you would have to have a presentation based on making things less structured to allow for more success. But, you realized you’re in a room with the key influencer who is very compliant; he/she likes configuration and organization. You then have to be ready tweak your strategy to make the presentation more effective and geared towards them..

Taking On The Role of Consultant

Regardless of whether you’re a hired expert brought on to assess the state of a company or if you’re attempting to influence change internally, you’re going to be taking on the role of the consultant. As the consultant, it’s important that you remain committed to your views and intentions regardless of the initial feedback that you may get particularly if you’re trying internally influence change. The key is to look at your key influencer as your client instead of your boss for the purpose of this project.

If your client (who happens to be your boss) shoots down your ideas and offers a counter plan, you have to be ready to channel some boldness and stand firm in your beliefs. Instead of arguing back and forth or worse, completely backing down because of his/her position above you in the company, you could say something like “I see what you’re saying, but if we do it your way, this is what is going to happen”, and then lay out how their plan is flawed.

It’s Not The Size Of The Company That Matters, It’s the Agility

When considering the speed and likelihood of a company to change, size shouldn’t be the deciding factor. It’s seems logical that a larger company would be more difficult to change than a smaller one, but often times it’s the smaller company that shows more resistance. Don’t let size lead you to any assumptions. Instead, there are 5 key areas that you should take a look at:

Risk Tolerance: Regardless of the size, does the company encourage risk? Do they punish risk-takers?

Speed of decision making: Is the company bound by politics? Hierarchy? Take notice to how the new hire process happens.

Levels of authority: Watch the style of how many people need to weigh in on a decision? When you go to your key influencer, is he/she going to refer the proposed changes to a higher level? Will that level then refer is even higher?

Empowerment: There is usually a tendency to refer empowerment higher. empowerment to the next level up. Can you start changing the direction of empowerment down in an organization? What you want to do as a consultant is be able to go in and say something like “Can’t this be solved by level 2 instead of going to level 6?”

Voice of the customer: Does the organization’s customer base see the company as helpful? Are they happy with the customer service? How do they give products? How do they handle product returns? Are they satisfied in general? What’s often found is that organizations are more flexible with their external relations than their internal relations.

Compliance VS Commitment

Whether you’re doing the influencer or the implementer of change, you’re going to come across two types of people who “sign on” to your changes.

The Compliant One: The compliant person will sign the documents, put their time in, “do their TPS Reports”, as Matt said in the podcast, punch the clock day in and day out. They’ll do it because they need a job, or are too lazy to leave. Whatever the reason, they’ll make the changes, but won’t really care much about it.

The Commitment One: The commitment person will simply, “Believe in the TPS Reports”. They’re dedicated to the idea of change and are committed to the success of the company.

As you have more commitment, the success of your company will be exponential.

As Bill said; “Find satisfaction in the pursuit of commitment.”

The best change influencers are those who don’t see people as something they ‘have to deal with’. They’re authentically interested in them, and enjoy the pursuit of the how of change more than the change itself.

Checkouts

Bill

Matt

]]>yesyesStarting a New Devops Jobhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/starting-a-new-devops-job/
Fri, 13 Mar 2015 21:28:13 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode032.mp3
Matty Stratton,
Trevor Hess,
and Bridget Kromhout32Starting any new job can be a mix of fun, excitement, and nervousness. But what about when you're coming into a DevOps-oriented organization? What are some of the special challenges entering a collaborative, 'blameless' place of work? Ryn Daniels and Jake Champlin join us to discuss their recent experiences of starting at some pretty exciting workplaces.Starting any new job can be a mix of fun, excitement, and nervousness. But what about when you're coming into a DevOps-oriented organization? What are some of the special challenges entering a collaborative, 'blameless' place of work? Ryn Daniels and Jake Champlin join us to discuss their recent experiences of starting at some pretty exciting workplaces.Starting any new job can be a mix of fun, excitement, and nervousness. But what about when you're coming into a DevOps-oriented organization? What are some of the special challenges entering a collaborative, 'blameless' place of work? Ryn Daniels and Jake Champlin join us to discuss their recent experiences of starting at some pretty exciting workplaces.Tonight’s episode featured a special guest host, Julian Dunn of Chef.

Matt asks Ryn what it was like going to a place like Etsy - the gold standard! - what they expected, and what it was like when they got there. Ryn says that years of reading codeascraft and seeing etsy engineers speak at conferences meant that they were excited to start but also felt a little impostory. “Everyone knows that devops is the internet and the internet is cats - I show up my first day and my desk is covered in cat pictures.”

Jake talks about how devopsdaysPGH was his first tech conference, where he got connected to the community and met his future boss Alex Nobert. Julian asks how Jake got connected to Minted, and Jake talks about Bridget introducing him to Alex and how Minted seemed to have a great culture. Trevor asks what stands out about Minted’s culture, and Jake mentions that it’s woman-owned and has a strong focus on the product, and how everyone’s motivated to make a quality product and it’s reflected in your infrastructure.

Bridget suggests this might be the inverse of Conway’s Law, while Matt asserts that most “inverse Conway’s Law” discussions just end up proving it. Jake mentions how the community of Minted votes on some products, and the engineering team tries to bring that same excellence throughout.

Bridget asks Ryn how Etsy’s engineering practices influence or are informed by the culture of the company. Ryn mentions Etsy’s B-Corporation status, which means they are focused on social good, transparency, giving back to the environment - and that’s reflected in a lot of what they do, from codeascraft to blog posts to involving sellers in the community.

Both guests give a short version of what their company does; Ryn says that aside from the monitoring and sending everyone to Velocity, Etsy is the largest marketplace for handmade and vintage goods. When Jake explains Minted, it’s revealed that as “lazy podcasters”, we didn’t realize that Minted was as artist-focused as it is, providing artists a platform and community - Bridget thought it was primarily for paper goods, while Matt thought it had something to do with money.

Bridget asks Ryn about their decision-making process to decide that Etsy was right for them. They said that even though Etsy folks they met at Velocity didn’t know them, they were welcoming and never condescended to them. (Also, pink-haired thought leadership.) They also admired how Ian Malpass was mentioning at devopsdaysMSP how he wanted to put together a class for effective male allies inside Etsy.

Similarly, when Jake went to devopsdaysPGH, the way people were open and welcoming is what made him know he was in the right place. (A restaurant-related digression led to a shout-out to Jon Cowie’s knife-spork.)

Matt mentions having the feels and being excited about getting a chance to work with Julian Dunn! and how when starting a new job, when you feel intimidated, people in a good culture are going to reach out to you and make you feel welcome. Julian asks our guests what the experience of starting at one of these devops gigs was like.

Ryn talks about how starting at Etsy is less-stressful than smaller jobs in the past (since payroll isn’t an open question) and then mentioned the engineering rotations that allow new people to “bootcamp” with other teams, to increase understanding across the site. They also mentioned the “first push” program, where everyone (even non-engineers) learns to deploy a change to the site.

Jake’s working remote, and his onboarding process was like being thrown into the deep end of the pool. He felt impostor syndrome at that point. Bridget agrees that it can be an intimidating feeling, and asks Jake how he deals with that. He says that he’s working with really smart people and is happy to learn new things every day.

Trevor asks about cultural cues. Ryn says that they have a chat-heavy culture, and because there are so many remotes, even the in-person team will communicate as if they are remote, so you get to know what’s going on with the team and what their favorite cat gifs are. Trevor mentions introducing hipchat to a client and how it caught on quickly. Jake mentions that although only ops and qa are remote, everyone at Minted uses hipchat. Matt believes it’s frustrating when there are people in an org aren’t on chat, and Jake agrees that having the whole org there (HR/payroll, etc) makes communicating easy, even as a remote employee.

Ryn: “I do get to sit ten feet away from John Allspaw, so I’ve got that going for me.”
Matt: “If you’re playing the Arrested DevOps drinking game, that’s a drink.”

Julian asks what are some of the downsides of a chat-heavy culture. Bridget mentions that at DramaFever, people have sometimes found chat to be distracting, if people are wanting your attention all day, and Ryn points out that at Etsy, it’s considered okay if someone needs to be heads-down working on something, either turning off notifications or signing out of chat. Trevor mentions that working with a global team can mean unintended awakenings from 3am @-mentions, while Ryn and Jake are both in cultures that encourage not having chat on their phones. Bridget says that at DramaFever, the solution is spaces in someone’s name so as to not alert them during off hours.

Jake talks about how being in an oncall rotation instead of being oncall 24/7/365 is great, and after a week of oncall, at Minted they get the next Friday off (and their co-workers will kick them out of chat if they join). Bridget asks Ryn about their blog post on work-life balance, and Ryn says they wrote that about disconnecting, and Etsy also has a culture of asking people to take care of themselves (where they threatened to take away their VPN access because they were working while sick).

Julian, who reveals he is stranded in Chicago and that’s why he is on the show, turns the conversation back to finding good roles and asking what role a recruiter plays. Ryn says that an Etsy person being oncall and troubleshooting during a Sysdrink meetup in New York attracted a number of applicants. That, codeascraft, speaking at conferences - showing what an org does, instead of just saying “we’re hiring” - works better.

Bridget asks them what makes a job a place they know is right for them. Jake says the culture, and working on interesting things with smart people. Ryn agrees, and says that their first week at Etsy they got to start contributing right away. Bridget points out that new people have a power that people who have been there longer can never get back - the power of not knowing how things are “supposed” to be (and the ability to write documentation to better serve a “don’t know the answer” POV). Ryn says that breaking Nagios Herald their first week (and then they also got to experience Etsy’s culture around blamelessness.) Jake is in a more greenfield situation, and so he was able to start contributing immediately out of necessity.

Bridget asks for the panel’s best advice for people who are interested in a “devops” job, want to find such a job, etc. Apparently the answer is having Bridget introduce you to people and/or convince you that you’re totally good enough to work somewhere. [Note from Bridget: this may not scale.] Both Jake and Ryn point out that connecting with the community on Twitter is a really valuable place to start making connections. Matt points out that liking your co-workers isn’t so much “nepotism” - you don’t have to party with them - but you spend a lot of time with your co-workers, so you’re going to want them to be people you don’t hate. Matt says, “It’s not know the ‘right’ people, it’s just ‘know people’.” Jake points out that at PGH, Mark Imbriaco and Ben Rockwood spoke to him as if he was a friend, even though they are prominent in the community. Ryn encourages everyone to use Twitter.

Matt

]]>yesyesDocker! Docker! Docker!https://www.arresteddevops.com/docker/
Thu, 26 Feb 2015 20:52:19 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode031.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout31James Turnbull has traveled the world speaking about Docker, and now he's here to tell ADO all about it. The tech, the company, and the community: James has opinions and was more than willing to share them!James Turnbull has traveled the world speaking about Docker, and now he's here to tell ADO all about it. The tech, the company, and the community: James has opinions and was more than willing to share them!James Turnbull has traveled the world speaking about Docker, and now he's here to tell ADO all about it. The tech, the company, and the community: James has opinions and was more than willing to share them!James Turnbull describes Docker as “a solution that is built by people to be usable by people, as opposed to some of the previous containerized solutions which were built by engineers to be usable by a very small subset of other engineers”.

When you might want to fly less… “when you start to recognize the airport lounge staff and the flight attendants on the New York-San Francisco route and they start to recognize you.”

James wrote The Docker Book to allow people of varying skill levels to quickly understand how to use Docker and what the practical applications could be for them. It’s intended to be a practical how-to guide.

At Kickstarter, developers have a dockerized replica of production on their laptops.

Matt asks if Docker can be only used in completely new deployments designed for Docker from the ground up. James points out that if you have existing infrastructure tools, it’s simple to create Dockerfiles from them.

The night before 1.0 launched at the first Docker conference in mid-2014, James removed all references to “don’t use this in production” from docker.com.

James mentions that Fig (soon to be renamed to Compose) helps with modeling multi-tier architectures locally.

James says, “People kinda forget the past and go, “oh my god Docker’s a pain in the ass to use”, and I’m like “compared to what, exactly? Compared to your previous build, or compared to you shipping around 10 ISO files and running Vagrant and 20 VMs on your local machine?”

He continues, “It wasn’t that long ago that the dark ages were real. I’m not suggesting that Docker’s a panacea, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.”

James points out that something like Elasticsearch does well in Docker, since “it’s a bit of a fiddly thing to build, with the right version of the JVM, right version of Elasticsearch, prepping all the data, etc”.

James highlights continuous integration as a “sensational combination” with Docker.

On the controversy, James points out there will always be hype and people claiming “this is a revolutionary technology that will cure world hunger”. He says, “I’m fond of saying that Docker is a powerful tool to help you in your development life cycle […] not every workload in your data center is well-suited to Docker.” James doesn’t make technical architecture decisions based on the writing of tech journalists or blog posts, but rather by testing and evaluating the relative merits of a given solution.

In the case of Graphite, James would run carbon-relay and carbon-cache inside Docker containers, but he’d point them at a physical machine with SSDs to actually write the whisper files.

Matt read a blog post and reactions on reddit and wanted to see what James thought of the concerns around security and operability. James points out that empathy for developers is something sysadmins need to cultivate, because you don’t manage infrastructure for infrastructure’s sake.

James points out that the main reason developers ship code that doesn’t work in production is that they have no fucking idea what production looks like because there’s this grumpy asshole that manages production and they’re terrified to go ask them a question. Bridget says that as such a former grumpy asshole, she’s much happier when the devs aren’t afraid to talk to her.

James mentions that Docker containers are not virtual machines and should not be used to separate security concerns, and you should secure the host the containers are running on.

James: “[PCI/DSS] is a low bar. If you followed simply the regulations for the compliance stuff that related to PCI/DSS, you would be running a massively insecure system.”

James points out that “owning” the standard gives one access to the marketing around an ecosystem. He also thinks that even if Rocket is a better technical solution, Docker has more traction.

Bridget: “So when I feel ranty about Docker and devicemapper, I should submit some pull requests.” James: “You should talk to Michael Crosby… Michael Crosby is currently in San Francisco somewhere going you motherfucker.”

James sees Amazon and Microsoft’s embracing of Docker as a great driver of revenue towards these cloud providers, if it gets developer code to production faster. They aren’t following hype; there are transparently obvious business reasons to do it.

In terms of skating to where the puck is going to be, James suggests looking at orchestration, software-defined networking, software-defined data centers - people building that sort of thing with Docker components. Docker Compose, Docker Swarm, people moving up the stack to manage different levels of abstraction.

James: “I challenge you to find a LAMP stack site where 80-90% of the configuration files aren’t identical - our secret knowledge of what to tweak isn’t as valuable as we think it is.”

]]>yesyesDevOps in a Microsoft World With Jessica DeVita and Jeffrey Snoverhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/microsoft-devops/
Thu, 12 Feb 2015 21:21:05 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode030.mp3
Matty Stratton
and Trevor Hess30Is DevOps just for the open source world? Can you do DevOps in a Microsoft shop? What are some of the tools and capabilities available for Windows, Azure, and .NET professionals who want to approach work in a DevOps model? Microsoft DevOps Evangelist Jessica DeVita and Jeffrey Snover, a Distinguished Engineer at Microsoft and the Lead Architect for the Windows Server and System Center Division, talk with the ADO crew about how Microsoft approaches DevOps.Is DevOps just for the open source world? Can you do DevOps in a Microsoft shop? What are some of the tools and capabilities available for Windows, Azure, and .NET professionals who want to approach work in a DevOps model? Microsoft DevOps Evangelist Jessica DeVita and Jeffrey Snover, a Distinguished Engineer at Microsoft and the Lead Architect for the Windows Server and System Center Division, talk with the ADO crew about how Microsoft approaches DevOps.Is DevOps just for the open source world? Can you do DevOps in a Microsoft shop? What are some of the tools and capabilities available for Windows, Azure, and .NET professionals who want to approach work in a DevOps model? Microsoft DevOps Evangelist Jessica DeVita and Jeffrey Snover, a Distinguished Engineer at Microsoft and the Lead Architect for the Windows Server and System Center Division, talk with the ADO crew about how Microsoft approaches DevOps.What are some of the challenges traditional Microsoft IT Pro’s deal with moving to a more automated DevOps pattern?

Jessica:

Hard to tell which tools are really going to make their lives easier.

Are the cultures of the companies benefiting the human side of the IT Pro?

Jeffrey:

Because Microsoft has great GUI tools, they become the biggest strength and weakness of the DevOps/IT-Pro

The process of using a GUI is much harder to replicate in documentation. Because most of the community uses powershell commands, Microsoft IT-Pros really need to get on board.

IT-Pros are never done with learning. If you don’t want to learn anything new, get into the lumber business.

Microsoft has been making more open source integration moves, and changing philosophies to accept the Open Source community. “What up with that?”

Jeffrey: “The body follows the head”

It helps when you have a leader with a fresh approach who focuses on customer service and helping users within the community

Jessica: It is really exciting to get behind a leader that is welcoming to the communities.

It is refreshing to see Microsoft becoming a software company, not a “Windows software company”

Microsoft wants you to be successful. Tools such as RESTful APIs are becoming available across all OSs.

What is the acceptance level of the OpenSource movement within Microsoft?

Jessica: Whatever you’re running, we can host it for you

Traditional Configuration Management in Microsoft has been difficult. What are the plans?

Current Microsoft tools are really good for enterprise, client management. Not so good for data center management.

We need something different, that is simple, and usable.

The problem is, everyone wants to do configuration their way. They want to be the CTO of their servers.

Jeffrey describes the creation, and idea conception of a Microsoft Configuration Management platform that takes into account the deep differences between Linux, Unix, Windows. Describing different tools currently available, their faults, and how they might be able to connect them for modern, DevOps oriented, Configuration Management.

The ability of chef and puppet, etc. are beneficial because of the ability of devs to pick it up, version it, and insert small parts of just what they need into the configuration.

Jessica: We are getting to the point where Microsoft DevOps engineers are adapting the powershell. Until the powershell is adopted by IT-pros, modern DevOps tools will be a difficult push.

You should already love powershell.

How can people get more comfortable with powershell?

Matt: It is not a scripting language. It is the way you interact with a system. Don’t write scripts in bash, write commands in bash that emulate the scripts.

Poweshell makes your environment repeatable, automatable, stable, etc. It is the future of the IT pro, and people must adopt it.

Are we automating ourselves out of jobs?

Jeff: The cloud is a great, cheap place to offer undifferentiated IT, however, if you can provide differentiated IT you are practically printing money vs. the cloud.

Jessica: We do need a healthy fear. Not of automation though. Be scared of more interesting things. You need to learn automation.

How do we work with Microsoft when its just not the best for DevOps-ing?

As more people us Microsoft, the more Microsoft changes. Jeff discusses the many ways in which Microsoft is using flexible R&D to make a push for DevOps tooling, as well as some tools coming down the pipeline.

Jessica: When choosing a tool, the longevity of the tool and the community around it is critical.

]]>yesyesHiring in a Post-DevOps Worldhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/hiring-for-devops/
Thu, 22 Jan 2015 20:47:29 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode029.mp3
Matty Stratton
and Trevor Hess29At DevOpsDays Ghent in 2014, it was joked that we are living in a 'post-DevOps world'. What are the challenges in hiring for DevOps related jobs? We be talked with panelists on all sides of the table - recruiting, hiring, and also just some rabble-rousing about why you should stop looking for 'ninjas' and 'rockstars'. Digital Ocean's Jill Jubinski, Datadog's Mike Fiedler, and rabble-rouser Josh Hertz joined Matt and Trevor to weigh in on a this complicated topic.At DevOpsDays Ghent in 2014, it was joked that we are living in a 'post-DevOps world'. What are the challenges in hiring for DevOps related jobs? We be talked with panelists on all sides of the table - recruiting, hiring, and also just some rabble-rousing about why you should stop looking for 'ninjas' and 'rockstars'. Digital Ocean's Jill Jubinski, Datadog's Mike Fiedler, and rabble-rouser Josh Hertz joined Matt and Trevor to weigh in on a this complicated topic.At DevOpsDays Ghent in 2014, it was joked that we are living in a 'post-DevOps world'. What are the challenges in hiring for DevOps related jobs? We be talked with panelists on all sides of the table - recruiting, hiring, and also just some rabble-rousing about why you should stop looking for 'ninjas' and 'rockstars'. Digital Ocean's Jill Jubinski, Datadog's Mike Fiedler, and rabble-rouser Josh Hertz joined Matt and Trevor to weigh in on a this complicated topic.Transcript

Check-Outs

Jill

Josh

I’m officially the SysAdmin for Caustic Soda, which is a podcast about horrible things. It’s like Mythbuster for all that is gross and horrible. Now that I think about it, I can’t recommend it.

Influxdb is an open-source, distributed, time series database with no external dependencies. Currently in Alpha (v0.8.8) it’s going through a major refactor, the “production ready” version v0.9.0 is due out this month. The ease of installation and setup is what sold me on it. I think it has a lot of potential, so we’ll see how v0.9.0 looks when it’s released.

The Bruery: Briefly mentioned. Small batch, high quality beers out of Placentia, Ca. Their barrel aged and sour beers are outstanding. I recommend Loakal Red as the gateway beer for those that like IPAs.

Trevor

Walking around your neighborhood. Discovered a new spice shop and comic shop by wandering North.

]]>yesyesIncidents and Accidents: Examining Failure Without Blamehttps://www.arresteddevops.com/blameless/
Thu, 15 Jan 2015 20:43:37 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode028.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout28Dave Zwieback, VP of Engineering at Next Big Sound and Mike Rembetsy, VP of Technical Operations at Etsy discuss learning from the unexpected and examining failure without blame. With practical tips about technical tools and philosophical insights into the human factors and cognitive biases in play, these industry experts offer useful guidance for the thorny questions around the topic of failure.Dave Zwieback, VP of Engineering at Next Big Sound and Mike Rembetsy, VP of Technical Operations at Etsy discuss learning from the unexpected and examining failure without blame. With practical tips about technical tools and philosophical insights into the human factors and cognitive biases in play, these industry experts offer useful guidance for the thorny questions around the topic of failure.Dave Zwieback, VP of Engineering at Next Big Sound and Mike Rembetsy, VP of Technical Operations at Etsy discuss learning from the unexpected and examining failure without blame. With practical tips about technical tools and philosophical insights into the human factors and cognitive biases in play, these industry experts offer useful guidance for the thorny questions around the topic of failure.Dave is at Next Big Sound, which does analytics for creative industries, and he’s seen a few orgs handle failure well, and a lot of organizations handle it poorly. He got interested in blameless postmortems and human factors in discussions with John Allspaw of Etsy, and Allspaw influenced him to read the work of David Wood and Sidney Dekker on human factors. He is writing a book for O’Reilly called Being Blameless.

MCR works at Etsy now, but has spent a lot of time consulting at various firms where he’s seen failure handled with blame. He points out what Rt. Lieutenant Colonel Scott Snook said in Friendly Fire, a book about when two US helicopters were accidentally shot down, that failure is part of complex systems.

MCR: “I work at Etsy, and that’s what we do - we examine failure as a learning opportunity.”

Dave: “Sidney Dekker’s Field Guide to Understanding Human Error is probably the most important book for people like us, meaning people that are in the IT world - it’s very accessible and gives lots of examples from fields outside of IT, but they’ve very relevant to what we do.”

MCR: “Failure is gonna happen. It’s not a matter of if something is going to fail, it’s a matter of when it is going to fail.”

MCR mentions the different categories of failures - those that “fail closed”, that are easy to detect, like disk filling up, and “fail open” - the surprises. He mentions some of the techniques Etsy uses - an IRC warroom, Vidyo video chatting, to resolve an immediate issue. After the immediate issue is solved, the learning begins.

MCR: “We celebrate failure as much as we celebrate success here. […] The three-armed sweater is given to the person who most spectacularly impacted the website in the year.”

On the topic of why to do a blameless postmortem, MCR points out that it’s for learning, and there are both technical and human factors. Dave points out that blaming a person short-circuits the learning. Claiming that a person is the cause of the outage feels like a good story, but it’s not true.

Dave discusses root cause and mentions Allspaw’s excellent blog and a specific post about there being no such thing as a root cause, and Dave disagrees. He believes that outages are caused by change, and the systems with which we work are fundamentally changeable. “The impermanence of systems is the reason that they both function and malfunction.” Mike counters by saying, “Is there really a root cause for something that failed? If a hard drive dies, it’s the same hard drive. It hasn’t changed.” They both agree that it’s a philosophical rabbit hole.

MCR notes that as Etsy grows, they’ve found that user-impacting, service-degrading issues are when they do postmortems, and even if not user-impacting, if they can learn from a failure it’s worth doing one. Dave says, “The more we learn about the complex systems within which we work, the better we’re able to operate them.”

Within a week or two, according to Dave, is common practice of a time in which do the postmortem. MCR mentions that it’s important to write down the timeline almost immediately, definitely within a day or two, but doing it while someone’s amygdala is still triggered (and they are upset) is too soon. Dave points out that the facilitator of a postmortem sets the tone, including reminding people of hindsight bias, and at Next Big Sound they use a specific framework document which Dave will share. He also mentions defusing stress with empathy and humor.

On the topic of evaluating anything you do, MCR mentions that Etsy created Morgue because any department across Etsy can apply these techniques to learn. Dave points out they do retrospectives as well as prospective review at Next Big Sound. MCR says Etsy does both an architectural review and an operability review ahead of time. Dave mentions that answers in prospective reviews can be biased in a positive way, whereas in a “premortem” we imagine things going badly, and try to determine what could lead to that: in essence, harnessing hindsight bias to work for us.

Bridget forgets what decade it is and claims to have seen a presentation at devopsdays 2003. That would have been a nifty trick, since the first one was in 2009. :)

I was on vacation and delightfully disconnected. It’s been pretty awesome. Got a new Kindle and have been reading Game of Thrones before Matt accidentally (though at this point it’s my fault) spoils something.

Set up kegbot at our new office, will be doing it’s grand opening later today :) Metrics about office beer / root beer consumption to come!

Matt:

Been on vacation, which is great. Doing the Dadops thing although I was sick for most of it, which was not delightful. However, I did see Big Hero 6, and Trevor was right about that.

]]>yesyesA Year of ADOhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/a-year-of-ado/
Wed, 31 Dec 2014 19:47:02 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode027.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout27It’s been a year of ADO, with topics from CI to security, panels of devs and of ops, and even Pete Cheslock. For the last episode of the year, we thought it would be fun to revisit Matt and Trevor chatting, sans guests - which hasn't happened since the first episode!It’s been a year of ADO, with topics from CI to security, panels of devs and of ops, and even Pete Cheslock. For the last episode of the year, we thought it would be fun to revisit Matt and Trevor chatting, sans guests - which hasn't happened since the first episode!It’s been a year of ADO, with topics from CI to security, panels of devs and of ops, and even Pete Cheslock. For the last episode of the year, we thought it would be fun to revisit Matt and Trevor chatting, sans guests - which hasn't happened since the first episode!yesyesThe Database: The Elephant in the Roomhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/continuous-delivery-database/
Mon, 08 Dec 2014 19:43:19 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode026.mp3
Trevor Hess
and Matty Stratton26Data - we can’t have applications or services without it. If software is eating the world, then data is the maitre’d. However, it can be challenging to incorporate database design and release into the world of continuous delivery and devops. Grant Fritchey and Jonathan Hickford of Redgate join Matt and Trevor for a discussion of DevOps and Databases.Data - we can’t have applications or services without it. If software is eating the world, then data is the maitre’d. However, it can be challenging to incorporate database design and release into the world of continuous delivery and devops. Grant Fritchey and Jonathan Hickford of Redgate join Matt and Trevor for a discussion of DevOps and Databases.Data - we can’t have applications or services without it. If software is eating the world, then data is the maitre’d. However, it can be challenging to incorporate database design and release into the world of continuous delivery and devops. Grant Fritchey and Jonathan Hickford of Redgate join Matt and Trevor for a discussion of DevOps and Databases.yesyesDevOps in the Enterprisehttps://www.arresteddevops.com/enterprise-devops/
Tue, 18 Nov 2014 19:38:22 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode025.mp3
Matty Stratton,
Bridget Kromhout,
and Trevor Hess25DevOps isn't just for startups - in fact, that argument can be made that it's even MORE important for large, enterprise-scale companies than for anyone else. What does it mean to 'do DevOps' in an enterprise? Is there a different flavor of DevOps for enterprise companies? Does CAMS work at scale? Michael Ducy (CHEF Software), Ross Clanton (Target), and Steve Pereira join Matt, Trevor, and Bridget (wat?) to finally tackle this tricky topic.DevOps isn't just for startups - in fact, that argument can be made that it's even MORE important for large, enterprise-scale companies than for anyone else. What does it mean to 'do DevOps' in an enterprise? Is there a different flavor of DevOps for enterprise companies? Does CAMS work at scale? Michael Ducy (CHEF Software), Ross Clanton (Target), and Steve Pereira join Matt, Trevor, and Bridget (wat?) to finally tackle this tricky topic.DevOps isn't just for startups - in fact, that argument can be made that it's even MORE important for large, enterprise-scale companies than for anyone else. What does it mean to 'do DevOps' in an enterprise? Is there a different flavor of DevOps for enterprise companies? Does CAMS work at scale? Michael Ducy (CHEF Software), Ross Clanton (Target), and Steve Pereira join Matt, Trevor, and Bridget (wat?) to finally tackle this tricky topic.Transcript

Trevor

Matt

]]>yesyesGit 101 With Emma Jane Westbyhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/git-101/
Wed, 12 Nov 2014 19:34:05 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode024.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout24One of the reasons that DevOps can be transformative to an organization is that it shortens feedback loops - talking about CAMS, the measurement piece is where that can come into play. Anyway, in that spirit, we’re taking feedback we’ve gotten from listeners who want more detailed, technical topics, and we have an episode talking about the HOW with git - with a very special guest, Emma Jane Westby.One of the reasons that DevOps can be transformative to an organization is that it shortens feedback loops - talking about CAMS, the measurement piece is where that can come into play. Anyway, in that spirit, we’re taking feedback we’ve gotten from listeners who want more detailed, technical topics, and we have an episode talking about the HOW with git - with a very special guest, Emma Jane Westby.One of the reasons that DevOps can be transformative to an organization is that it shortens feedback loops - talking about CAMS, the measurement piece is where that can come into play. Anyway, in that spirit, we’re taking feedback we’ve gotten from listeners who want more detailed, technical topics, and we have an episode talking about the HOW with git - with a very special guest, Emma Jane Westby.Microsoft is open-sourcing .NET and creating the CLR for Mac and Linux
.Net core5 is the new framework for 5, you can ship your own version of the app.

There is now a free version of Visual Studio — Visual Studio Community for open source developers and students.
In fact, it is all happening out in the open on github.

Emma Jane is a long time listener of ADO! She has been teaching version control for many years with specific emphasis on the communication behind version control in teams. She has since switched to distributed version control such as git. Her aim in her teachings is to create resources that make git ”less painful” than it currently is.

Distributed vs Centralized Version Control

Emma Jane:
- In distributed VC the DB that contains the changes, exists on the local system and I can have multiple connections to multiple DBs with other versions.
- Centralized is all in a single DB, locally.

How is Distributed VC relevant to DevOps?

Matt: Many people hold the theory that you cannot have “The DevOps” without distributed version control. It implies communication through teams, so what is the validity of that statement.

Emma Jane:
- Git is not the only VC option out there, but it is the most popular currently.
- You need to assess your team and your project, along with the related expertise and community support, and go with the one that fits your needs.
- As soon as you say “can’t” someone will prove you wrong.

Testing

Matt:
- The whole basis of git-flow is based on the fact that you can’t trust your contributors. Especially with open source. It sends a message that says “I don’t have to test my shit, because you’ll do it for me.”

Emma Jane:
- If we are talking about testing, you need to have full coverage testing of whatever your product. Many testing frameworks allows for 99.9% accuracy on the tests, but that .1% causes you not to trust your tests. This makes it really hard to get reliable CI into the dev process.
- For that matter, Devs shouldn’t trust themselves when it comes to pushing code, you should always rely on testing because everyone is going to make mistakes, and humans might not catch them.
- Git allows you to have control over the pushed code.

Trevor:
- There should be no permissions. All developers should have the same permissions and the flow should go through QA.

How do you learn git?

Emma Jane:
- All kinds of people are interested in learning git. But mainly:
1) Someone who is on subversion and wants to change to git
2) Someone who has been told to use git, but they don’t know how to run command line tools.
3) CTO or management types that know they want to use git, but they’re not really sure where to go from that decision.

In order to identify how your team will most efficiently use git, draw out your team flow and identify where efficiency is being blocked. Is re-basing causing problems? Is a PR sitting out there for too long? Use those as discussion points with your coworkers.

You cannot introduce creativity when you are just told to memorize commands.

Emma Jane:
- Use Interactive Add! It allows you to split up your diffs into different commits. So you don’t end up committing a huge chunk of features that should most-definitely not be committed together.

How do I get set up?

Look for the right git-flow based on the type of deployments you are going to be using to release the software. Are your deployments feature based? or time based? How important is a rollback?

Your code should always be deployable in a CD framework. You are only rolling forward, you have one master branch, and feature branches, how can you have correct and fast CD if you have multiple branches before the CD process starts.

Your git setup should be directly related to your infrastructure. The git releases and flows of a team of 1 is going to be massively different than the git flow of a large team for a Could Provider.

Things you should know (about git):

Rebasing:
- Rebasing allows you to recombine how your commit chunks are strung together. It takes all the commits of a branch and
- Great for when you are adding too many commits.

Git Bisect
- You can take out commits individually, and assess if the commits are in a working state.
- However, if you do not have full commits, for example, commits when you are just thinking about something, it will be much harder to assess the state of the commits individually.

]]>yesyesManaging Systems in the Cloudhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/managing-systems-in-the-cloud/
Tue, 14 Oct 2014 19:21:18 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode023.mp3
Matty Stratton
and Trevor Hess23Tom Limoncelli, one of the authors of _The Practice of Cloud System Administration: Designing and Operating Large Distributed Systems_ talks with Matt and Trevor (but mostly Trevor) about the challenges of modern system management.Tom Limoncelli, one of the authors of _The Practice of Cloud System Administration: Designing and Operating Large Distributed Systems_ talks with Matt and Trevor (but mostly Trevor) about the challenges of modern system management.Tom Limoncelli, one of the authors of _The Practice of Cloud System Administration: Designing and Operating Large Distributed Systems_ talks with Matt and Trevor (but mostly Trevor) about the challenges of modern system management.

Matt

Trevor

http://www.jeremymorgan.com/blog/programming/the-great-unicorn-hunt/
Borderlands the Pre-Sequel is out :D
]]>yesyesDevopsdays Chicagohttps://www.arresteddevops.com/devopsdays-chicago/
Wed, 08 Oct 2014 19:17:09 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode022.mp3
Trevor Hess
and Matty Stratton22Recorded on Day 2 of DevOpsDays Chicago. Matt and Trevor are joined by a panel of attendees and organizers to talk about their experiences at the first ever DevOpsDays to take place in the Windy City. #deepdishdevops for everyone!Recorded on Day 2 of DevOpsDays Chicago. Matt and Trevor are joined by a panel of attendees and organizers to talk about their experiences at the first ever DevOpsDays to take place in the Windy City. #deepdishdevops for everyone!Recorded on Day 2 of DevOpsDays Chicago. Matt and Trevor are joined by a panel of attendees and organizers to talk about their experiences at the first ever DevOpsDays to take place in the Windy City. #deepdishdevops for everyone!yesyesConference Lovehttps://www.arresteddevops.com/devops-conferences/
Tue, 23 Sep 2014 19:10:23 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode021.mp3
Trevor Hess
and Matty Stratton21Conferences - some people are addicted, and others have never been. What is the point of conferences? What's an unconference? Why shouldn't I just stay home and watch the livestreams? Jason Dixon (Monitorama), Bridget Kromhout (devopsdays Minneapolis), and Pete Cheslock (devopsdays Boston) give their two cents (and more) about why conferences are the place to be.Conferences - some people are addicted, and others have never been. What is the point of conferences? What's an unconference? Why shouldn't I just stay home and watch the livestreams? Jason Dixon (Monitorama), Bridget Kromhout (devopsdays Minneapolis), and Pete Cheslock (devopsdays Boston) give their two cents (and more) about why conferences are the place to be.Conferences - some people are addicted, and others have never been. What is the point of conferences? What's an unconference? Why shouldn't I just stay home and watch the livestreams? Jason Dixon (Monitorama), Bridget Kromhout (devopsdays Minneapolis), and Pete Cheslock (devopsdays Boston) give their two cents (and more) about why conferences are the place to be.

What was the first tech conference you attended?

What are things you get from a conference that you cannot learn other ways?

How can I maximize my value out of attending a conference?

If I’m going to a conference where I don’t know anyone, how can I still have a good time?

You both have planned conferences. What are some of the things that go into organizing that people might not be aware of?

What is your favorite conference story?

How do you learn about new events to attend?

How do you pick which events you know about to go to? There are a lot, and it can be hard to narrow down when you only have a 1-2 conference limit from an employer, or your own resources.

What was the coolest piece of “swag” you got from a conference?

Does the swag at a conference weigh in for you at all? I hear a lot of noise around the big Google events because everyone knows they are walking away with hardware.

Lets talk about conference etiquette, and discuss some of the points in Bridget's article

]]>yesyesSomething About Security With Ben Hugheshttps://www.arresteddevops.com/devops-security/
Tue, 09 Sep 2014 18:26:31 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode020.mp3
Trevor Hess
and Matty Stratton20When we talk about DevOps, often times we focus only on the two disciplines that feature in the name - Development and Operations. But DevOps, truly, is about collaboration across all areas of the business, even those security blokes. Ben Hughes, Security Manager at Etsy, joins the ADO crew to review how to work WITH your security teams, and show that they're not really scary at all.When we talk about DevOps, often times we focus only on the two disciplines that feature in the name - Development and Operations. But DevOps, truly, is about collaboration across all areas of the business, even those security blokes. Ben Hughes, Security Manager at Etsy, joins the ADO crew to review how to work WITH your security teams, and show that they're not really scary at all.When we talk about DevOps, often times we focus only on the two disciplines that feature in the name - Development and Operations. But DevOps, truly, is about collaboration across all areas of the business, even those security blokes. Ben Hughes, Security Manager at Etsy, joins the ADO crew to review how to work WITH your security teams, and show that they're not really scary at all.

What exactly do you security folks do all day?

So let's talk about ZOMG SCARY CLOUDS

I'm a developer. What do I need to know to help me be pals with InfoSec?

]]>yesyesDev to Opshttps://www.arresteddevops.com/dev-to-ops/
Thu, 28 Aug 2014 18:17:34 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode019.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout19What does the journey from a background based in Development and moving to an Ops role feel like?What does the journey from a background based in Development and moving to an Ops role feel like?What does the journey from a background based in Development and moving to an Ops role feel like?You Suck at Technical Interviews

Check Outs

Nate

John

Aaron

Trevor

Matt

Lumosity Mobile
]]>yesyesThe Sysadmin Showhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/sysadmins/
Wed, 20 Aug 2014 18:09:40 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode018.mp3
Matty Stratton
and Trevor Hess18Way back in Episode 3, we had a 'Dev focused' show. It's about time to show some sysadmin love.Way back in Episode 3, we had a 'Dev focused' show. It's about time to show some sysadmin love.Way back in Episode 3, we had a 'Dev focused' show. It's about time to show some sysadmin love.What exactly does it mean to be a sysadmin? How do you define “sysadmin”?

What is your favorite thing about devops? How does it change your life as a sysadmin?

Matt has a belief that sysadmins are inherently cynical. Is he an idiot?

What do you miss about “the good old days?”

Alex Howells asks: “How often do you think ‘Fuck it all, I’m going to be a plumber or electrician?’”

Matt

Registration is open for Chef Community Summit - ADO listeners can get 10% off their registration with the code ARRESTEDDEVOPS

]]>yesyesHelp! I Need Somebodyhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/get-help/
Mon, 04 Aug 2014 18:06:38 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode017.mp3
Matty Stratton
and Trevor Hess17Matt and Trevor are joined by Dave Gerding, as well as first ever repeat panelist Sasha Rosenbaum, to talk about how to ask for help - and how to get the best help possible with your problems and questions. There's no shame in your game when you need some assistance!Matt and Trevor are joined by Dave Gerding, as well as first ever repeat panelist Sasha Rosenbaum, to talk about how to ask for help - and how to get the best help possible with your problems and questions. There's no shame in your game when you need some assistance!Matt and Trevor are joined by Dave Gerding, as well as first ever repeat panelist Sasha Rosenbaum, to talk about how to ask for help - and how to get the best help possible with your problems and questions. There's no shame in your game when you need some assistance!

]]>yesyesDevOpsDays Minneapolishttps://www.arresteddevops.com/devopsdays-minneapolis/
Fri, 18 Jul 2014 12:40:35 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode016.mp3
Matty Stratton16Matt was joined by guest co-host Julian Dunn, as well as some awesome panelists for an on-site recording of ADO at the very first DevOpsDays Minneapolis!Matt was joined by guest co-host Julian Dunn, as well as some awesome panelists for an on-site recording of ADO at the very first DevOpsDays Minneapolis!Matt was joined by guest co-host Julian Dunn, as well as some awesome panelists for an on-site recording of ADO at the very first DevOpsDays Minneapolis!yesyesContinuous Deliveryhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/continuous-delivery/
Tue, 15 Jul 2014 12:33:16 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode015.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout15One of the most commonly associated principles with DevOps is that of Continuous Delivery. Continuing (ha ha) upon our previous episode on Continuous Integration, Jez Humble talks about what CD is, how it can help your organization, and how he's seen the world of DevOps change since the first publication of the Continuous Delivery book.One of the most commonly associated principles with DevOps is that of Continuous Delivery. Continuing (ha ha) upon our previous episode on Continuous Integration, Jez Humble talks about what CD is, how it can help your organization, and how he's seen the world of DevOps change since the first publication of the Continuous Delivery book.One of the most commonly associated principles with DevOps is that of Continuous Delivery. Continuing (ha ha) upon our previous episode on Continuous Integration, Jez Humble talks about what CD is, how it can help your organization, and how he's seen the world of DevOps change since the first publication of the Continuous Delivery book.yesyesHow to Eff Up Devopshttps://www.arresteddevops.com/how-to-eff-up-devops/
Mon, 07 Jul 2014 12:27:03 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode014.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout14DevOps 'Thought Leaders' Pete Cheslock, Nathen Harvey, and Randi Harper help us understand all the things you can do wrong when 'doing the DevOps'.DevOps 'Thought Leaders' Pete Cheslock, Nathen Harvey, and Randi Harper help us understand all the things you can do wrong when 'doing the DevOps'.DevOps 'Thought Leaders' Pete Cheslock, Nathen Harvey, and Randi Harper help us understand all the things you can do wrong when 'doing the DevOps'.Transcript

What are some common misconceptions about what DevOps is?

What are some symptoms of "DevOps Smell"[1]?

Development Operations vs Dev + Ops

Is it really just about culture?

Can the opinions of a tool help drive the culture? This is a theory Matt is marinating upon, and might be totally wrong.

How can we avoid the "echo chamber" of DevOps discussion?

Pete

Nathen

Randi

Trevor

Matt

Sunrise calendar for iOS and OS X.
]]>yesyesSoftware Deploymenthttps://www.arresteddevops.com/software-deployment/
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 12:23:24 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode013.mp3
Matty Stratton
and Trevor Hess13'It doesn't count until it's in production.'' How can organizations level-up at delivering software and features to their customers? What are some of the good practices that DevOps can bring to your company? Matt and Trevor are joined by Ranjib Dey, system administrator at PagerDuty, to talk about 'shipping that software.''It doesn't count until it's in production.'' How can organizations level-up at delivering software and features to their customers? What are some of the good practices that DevOps can bring to your company? Matt and Trevor are joined by Ranjib Dey, system administrator at PagerDuty, to talk about 'shipping that software.''It doesn't count until it's in production.'' How can organizations level-up at delivering software and features to their customers? What are some of the good practices that DevOps can bring to your company? Matt and Trevor are joined by Ranjib Dey, system administrator at PagerDuty, to talk about 'shipping that software.'What is software delivery? There are a lot of approaches to this subject- what does “software delivery” mean at PagerDuty?

What is your idea of “best” way to deliver software, or line of best fit?

Checkouts

Ranjib

Matt

Trevor

]]>yesyesMaking the DevOps Transitionhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/implementing-devops/
Wed, 11 Jun 2014 12:19:38 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode012.mp3
Matty Stratton
and Trevor Hess12Matt and Trevor are joined by Jeanne Steinback (Rewards Network) and Chris A (MacArthur Foundation) to chat about their real-world experiences in bringing an organization through a DevOps transition.Matt and Trevor are joined by Jeanne Steinback (Rewards Network) and Chris A (MacArthur Foundation) to chat about their real-world experiences in bringing an organization through a DevOps transition.Matt and Trevor are joined by Jeanne Steinback (Rewards Network) and Chris A (MacArthur Foundation) to chat about their real-world experiences in bringing an organization through a DevOps transition.

Jeanne

Trevor

Matt

Pragmatic Programming book tmux: Productive Mouse-Free DevelopmentBurnout.io
]]>yesyesDevOps at Etsy: Not a Unicorn, Just a Sparkly Horsehttps://www.arresteddevops.com/devops-at-etsy/
Wed, 21 May 2014 12:16:50 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode011.mp3
Trevor Hess
and Matty Stratton11The engineering team at Etsy are considered by many to be industry leaders when it comes to automation, software delivery, and general DevOps awesomeness. We will be joined by Senior Operations Engineer Jon Cowie (and others) to give an overview of how Etsy does their DevOps magic, and what we can learn from their example.The engineering team at Etsy are considered by many to be industry leaders when it comes to automation, software delivery, and general DevOps awesomeness. We will be joined by Senior Operations Engineer Jon Cowie (and others) to give an overview of how Etsy does their DevOps magic, and what we can learn from their example.The engineering team at Etsy are considered by many to be industry leaders when it comes to automation, software delivery, and general DevOps awesomeness. We will be joined by Senior Operations Engineer Jon Cowie (and others) to give an overview of how Etsy does their DevOps magic, and what we can learn from their example.

Check Outs

Jon Cowie

David Yurkiewicz

Pete Bellisano

John Allspaw

Trevor

Shortcut-Fu
Agents of Shield

Matt

Vimium - Google Chrome extension which provides keyboard shortcuts for navigation and control in the spirit of the Vim editor
Release! The Game
]]>yesyesScaling the Application Mountainshttps://www.arresteddevops.com/cloud-scaling/
Thu, 08 May 2014 12:13:44 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode010.mp3
Matty Stratton
and Trevor Hess10In today's world of web-scale IT, the ability to respond quickly to increased demand and traffic on your critical applications is an essential component of success. Scaling experts Steven Corona and Igor Papirov join Matt and Trevor to talk about why scaling matters, some good practices to keep in mind, and other tips and tricks for success in the dynamic world of modern applications.In today's world of web-scale IT, the ability to respond quickly to increased demand and traffic on your critical applications is an essential component of success. Scaling experts Steven Corona and Igor Papirov join Matt and Trevor to talk about why scaling matters, some good practices to keep in mind, and other tips and tricks for success in the dynamic world of modern applications.In today's world of web-scale IT, the ability to respond quickly to increased demand and traffic on your critical applications is an essential component of success. Scaling experts Steven Corona and Igor Papirov join Matt and Trevor to talk about why scaling matters, some good practices to keep in mind, and other tips and tricks for success in the dynamic world of modern applications.yesyesFast and Furious: Configuration Drifthttps://www.arresteddevops.com/configuration-management/
Sat, 29 Mar 2014 12:10:10 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode09.mp3
Matty Stratton
and Trevor Hess9One of the key technologies to help automate your DevOps environment is Configuration Management. There's a lot of chatter around what exactly this means, and how you can use it. Special panel guests Sean OMeara, Chris Webber, and Steven Murawksi join Matt and Trevor to talk about how Config Management can make your systems and stack more stable, predictable, and more fun to manage.One of the key technologies to help automate your DevOps environment is Configuration Management. There's a lot of chatter around what exactly this means, and how you can use it. Special panel guests Sean OMeara, Chris Webber, and Steven Murawksi join Matt and Trevor to talk about how Config Management can make your systems and stack more stable, predictable, and more fun to manage.One of the key technologies to help automate your DevOps environment is Configuration Management. There's a lot of chatter around what exactly this means, and how you can use it. Special panel guests Sean OMeara, Chris Webber, and Steven Murawksi join Matt and Trevor to talk about how Config Management can make your systems and stack more stable, predictable, and more fun to manage.yesyesManaging Your Mental Stackhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/managing-your-mental-stack/
Tue, 11 Mar 2014 08:54:32 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode08.mp3
Matty Stratton
and Trevor Hess8It's information overload these days - how can a technology professional manage to keep up with everything that is new and exciting in the world of DevOps? What are the best methods for absorbing content and developing skills? Just how useful are podcasts, anyway? Matt, Trevor, and special guest Sasha Rosenbaum discuss these topics and their own personal strategies and challenges with keeping their brains from segfaulting.It's information overload these days - how can a technology professional manage to keep up with everything that is new and exciting in the world of DevOps? What are the best methods for absorbing content and developing skills? Just how useful are podcasts, anyway? Matt, Trevor, and special guest Sasha Rosenbaum discuss these topics and their own personal strategies and challenges with keeping their brains from segfaulting.It's information overload these days - how can a technology professional manage to keep up with everything that is new and exciting in the world of DevOps? What are the best methods for absorbing content and developing skills? Just how useful are podcasts, anyway? Matt, Trevor, and special guest Sasha Rosenbaum discuss these topics and their own personal strategies and challenges with keeping their brains from segfaulting.

Check-Outs

Matt

Trevor

Sasha

]]>yesyesAll Together Nowhttps://www.arresteddevops.com/all-together-now/
Sun, 23 Feb 2014 09:57:34 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode07.mp3Matty Stratton, Trevor Hess, and Bridget Kromhout7Angela Dugan of Polaris Solutions and Todd Vernon, CEO & co-founder of VictorOps, join the ADO crew to chat about the challenges of collaborating in a cross-functional team. How can tools help facilitate communication among developers, testers, and operations? What are some of the best practices to keep in mind? And, of course, there just might be some "horror stories" of communication gone horribly wrong.Angela Dugan of Polaris Solutions and Todd Vernon, CEO & co-founder of VictorOps, join the ADO crew to chat about the challenges of collaborating in a cross-functional team. How can tools help facilitate communication among developers, testers, and operations? What are some of the best practices to keep in mind? And, of course, there just might be some "horror stories" of communication gone horribly wrong.Angela Dugan of Polaris Solutions and Todd Vernon, CEO & co-founder of VictorOps, join the ADO crew to chat about the challenges of collaborating in a cross-functional team. How can tools help facilitate communication among developers, testers, and operations? What are some of the best practices to keep in mind? And, of course, there just might be some "horror stories" of communication gone horribly wrong.

Matt

]]>yesyesDevOps Mythbustershttps://www.arresteddevops.com/devops-mythbusters/
Mon, 10 Feb 2014 09:56:24 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode06.mp3
Trevor Hess
and Matty Stratton6On this episode of Arrested DevOps Matt and Trevor are joined by some of the finest minds in DevOps podcastery - Damon Edwards of DevOps Cafe and Sascha Bates of The Ship Show. The panel addresses some common beliefs on DevOps, and whether these beliefs are true...or just MYTHS.On this episode of Arrested DevOps Matt and Trevor are joined by some of the finest minds in DevOps podcastery - Damon Edwards of DevOps Cafe and Sascha Bates of The Ship Show. The panel addresses some common beliefs on DevOps, and whether these beliefs are true...or just MYTHS.On this episode of Arrested DevOps Matt and Trevor are joined by some of the finest minds in DevOps podcastery - Damon Edwards of DevOps Cafe and Sascha Bates of The Ship Show. The panel addresses some common beliefs on DevOps, and whether these beliefs are true...or just MYTHS.

Myths!

The intro
You’re either DevOps or you’re not

The CompanyManagement BeliefsDevOps only works for startups or web companies.
DevOps doesn’t scale.
You can’t do DevOps without being Agile

Business SemanticsShops practicing DevOps should have a DevOps team.
We can’t do DevOps because we need separation of duties.

The Team
Operations Assumptions
DevOps means “developers do operations work”
A DevOps is a sysadmin that uses config mgmt.
DevOps is about hiring sysadmins who code.

Developer ExpectationsDevOps means developers get admin access in production
Developers cannot be trusted.

The ToolsDevOps only works with Open Source tools and operating systems (i.e., I can’t do DevOps in a Microsoft shop)The tools promote the DevOps cultural change.

Retro

Trevor completed another revolution around the sun. Got Chromecasts for some family members. He was really impressed with how easily it interfaced with their other devices. Matt celebrated the holidays and got a lot of Doctor Who stuff, including a new Sonic Screwdriver that his 4 year old sons are obsessed with. He also got the first part of his new tattoo done. And lots of PowerShell, cloud, and DevOps.

Outline/Questions

David discovers that his particular model of servers in his home lab are suspect to the NSA “DEITYBOUNCE” exploit. Discuss why is it necessary to learn/know the “low level” things - does a developer really need to know how to write a bubble sort? Do devs need to understand RAID? Dan is reading a book called Code which is relevant to this topic. Dan believes technology people should always be on a “quest” to want to be better, to need to be better. Matt: “There’s more to developing an application than writing the procedural code.” Matt quotes John Vincent’s blog post AGAIN about what DevOps means. Lots of discussion about special snowflakes without giving proper attributions to Sascha Bates. DevOps is not a role, it’s a culture. Dan wonders about the Tech Ops equivalent of CodeAcademy. Matt vaguely remembers something like this. He might be thinking about Ops School. Matt offers a challenge to any developers in the audience - in your next standup, grab a task from the board that is not a traditionally “dev” task. Let us know how this works when you try it!

DevOps Resolutions for 2014

David - To think about DevOps when Matt is not in the room. Just to keep fresh. Matt - To write some code for something that does some sh*t. And have David deploy it. Dan - To not be a #newb in Ops Trevor - To be more present in his mind when it comes to doing Ops-type things.

Trevor

David

Dan

Free/cheap Kindle e-books for dev and ops books (sort the Kindle store from low to high)
]]>yesyesDoes Testing Keep You From Making a Huge Mistake?https://www.arresteddevops.com/does-testing-keep-you-from-making-a-huge-mistake/
Mon, 16 Dec 2013 09:45:16 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode02.mp3
Matty Stratton
and Trevor Hess2What role does testing play in DevOps?What role does testing play in DevOps?What role does testing play in DevOps?Things get off to a great start during the retro, where Trevor complains about destroying his USB 3.0 drivers due to a Win 8.1 upgrade and Matt turns into a Cylon.

Test Kitchen is now officially 1.0, but does’t really support Windows, but that doesn’t stop Matt from wanting to hack it to make it work anyway.

“Testing is any action taken to give you information about the actual state of your software, vs your assumptions” – Lanette

“A lot of developers look at testing like insurance – it’s not going to prevent a disaster, but it’s going to help you mitigate those problems” – John

Spirited discussion about the value of code coverage as a metric, and our panelists mostly violenly agree that it is not a valuable number in a vacuum. We also discuss that it is possible to approach all of life like a QA tester.

Nate

John

Matt

Trevor

]]>yesyesWhat Is DevOps?https://www.arresteddevops.com/what-is-devops/
Thu, 05 Dec 2013 20:52:00 -0500 https://media.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/content.blubrry.com/arresteddevops/arrested-devops-podcast-episode01.mp3
Matty Stratton
and Trevor Hess1Matt and Trevor talk about the reason for Arrested DevOps, the format of the show (sort of), and then 'what does DevOps mean?'' Then somehow the topic devolves into open floorspaces and Matt puts his foot in his mouth a few times.Matt and Trevor talk about the reason for Arrested DevOps, the format of the show (sort of), and then 'what does DevOps mean?'' Then somehow the topic devolves into open floorspaces and Matt puts his foot in his mouth a few times.Matt and Trevor talk about the reason for Arrested DevOps, the format of the show (sort of), and then 'what does DevOps mean?'' Then somehow the topic devolves into open floorspaces and Matt puts his foot in his mouth a few times.DevOps – the Title Match – John Vincent’ blog post about what DevOps is and isn’t, that Matt totally read from and referred to.

Food Fight Show – The Podcast where DevOps chefs do battle. These guys totally watched this live. Which is more than I can say for The Ship Show. Just kidding.